Small Drop in Edu Sector Allocation

NEW DELHI: Education is one of the major priorities of the government, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday. But surprisingly, the sector saw over a two per cent cut in outlay even as the government proposed to set up IITs and IIMs across the country.

The slash in funds to the education sector is 2.02 per cent when compared to the revised allocation in 2014-15. Overall, school education and higher education sectors have got `69,074 crore. The revised estimate for 2014-15 was `70,505 crore. The cut is, however, about 16.54 per cent when compared with the actual outlay in 2014-15 fiscal.

Describing the budget as “pragmatic”, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said she was “extremely grateful for the allocation of funds for higher learning and also about the thrust on innovation through funding”.

While the school education sector has got an outlay of ` 42,219.50 crore for 2015-16, the higher education sector has got `26,855 crore. The thrust is on the higher education sector with the announcement of setting up an IIT in Karnataka and upgrading of the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, into a full-fledged IIT, fulfilling a long standing demand by the people in Jharkhand.

A Centre for Film Production, Animation and Gaming in Arunachal Pradesh and an Apprenticeship Training Institute for Women in Haryana and Uttarakhand has also been proposed.  Pointing out that the government had launched a drive for constructing toilets in all schools, and also the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign, Jaitley said he proposed to continue with the education cess on income-tax of 2 per cent and 1 per cent additional surcharge called ‘Secondary and Higher Education Cess’ on tax and surcharge to keep commitment to provide universalised quality-based education.

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