New Delhi: Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has appreciated the Union Budget 2019-20 and expressed his gratitude to Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman for giving priority to education sector and overall development of the Students. He said that the aspirations of all stakeholders in education sector would be met by this Budget. He expressed his happiness over the increased allocation of Budget in Education sectors. He lauded the creation of National Research Foundation, which would play key role in coordinating the research efforts of all Ministries in Government of India.
HRM BYTE
Union Finance Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget of government in the Lok Sabha today. The Budget has given a major push to the education sector of the country. The total Budget allocation for the HRD Ministry increased from Rs. 85,010 Crore in 2018-19 to Rs. 94,853.64 Crore in 2019-20. The Department wise details are as follows:
Department of Higher Education
The total budget allocation in the BE 2019-20 for Higher Education is Rs. 38,317 Cr, which is a 9.4% increase compared to allocation of Rs.35, 010 Cr for this sector in BE 2018-19.
Apart from this, Government has made available Rs.15,000 Cr through extra-budgetary resources using the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) mechanism. Government has provided an additional equity of Rs 2,100 Cr to HEFA to enable it to mobilise the required funds for building high quality infrastructure in higher educational institutions.
The overall fund availability for the Higher Education Sector for 2019-20 is therefore Rs. 53,317 Cr (Rs. 38,317 Cr + Rs. 15,000 Cr through HEFA) in the year 2019-20. Therefore the fund availability for higher education for 2019-20 has increased substantially.
The following are the major features of the budget allocation for the higher education sector:
- The major increases in the schemes have been as below:
| Name of the Scheme/Autonomous Body | RE 2018-19 | BE 2019-20 | Growth in r/o RE |
| Support to IITs | 5714.70 | 6409.95 | 12.17% |
| National Education Mission: Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) | 1500.00 | 2100.00 | 40% |
| Scheme for transformational and advanced research in Sciences (STARS) | 5.00 | 50.00 | 900% |
| Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration(SPARC) | 30.00 | 130.00 | 333% |
| Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (IMPRESS) | 25.00 | 75.00 | 200% |
| Implementation of the IMPRINT Research Initiative (IMPacting Research INnovation & Technology) | 50.00 | 80.00 | 60% |
| Study in India | 50.00 | 65.00 | 30% |
| National Mission in Education through ICT | 150.00 | 170.00 | 13% |
| World Class institutions | 128.90 | 400.00 | 210% |
As can be seen, all research schemes have got a major increase in allocations. The IITs have been allocated Rs. 6409.95 Cr which is an increase of 12% over the last year. There has been major increase in flagship programmes such as RUSA where budget allocation has been increased by 40% from Rs.1500 Cr to Rs.2,100 Cr. Central Universities have been provided Rs. 6,864.40 Cr. UGC has been allocated another Rs.4950.66 Cr. Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, under which 10,000 villages have been adopted by Higher Educational Institutions, has got 32% increase in budget allocation, reiterating faith of Govt in linking educational institutions with Society.
Department of School Education & Literacy:
There has been an overall increase of ₹ 6422.88 crore (12.81%) in the Budget Allocation of Department of School Education and Literacy in the FY 2019-20 from FY 2018-19. The overall Budget Allocation in FY 2019-20 is ₹ 56536.63 Crore out of which Scheme allocation is ₹ 48063.60 Crore and Non-Scheme Allocation is ₹ 8473.03 cr. Increase in Scheme Allocation is by ₹ 6603.47 Crore Budget Allocation in Flagship Schemes have increased i.e Samagra Shiksha (by ₹ 5430.19 crore) and Mid Day Meal (by ₹ 500 crore).
Others Major Announcements in the Budget
An amount of Rs. 400 crore has been provided for FY 2019-20 to create “World Class Institutions” in the field of education which is more than three times the revised estimates for the previous year.
The Finance Minister assured that the Government will also bring in a New National Education Policy to transform India’s higher education system to one of the global best education systems. The new Policy proposes major changes in both school and higher education among others, better Governance systems and brings greater focus on research and innovation.
To achieve the objectives of research and innovation, the Finance Minister also announced setting up of a National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund, coordinate and promote research in the country. NRF will ensure that the overall research eco-system in the country is strengthened with focus on identified thrust areas relevant to our national priorities and towards basic science without duplication of effort and expenditure, the Minister explained. The funds available with all Ministries will be integrated in NRF and would be adequately supplemented with additional funds.
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman also said that ‘Study in India’ programme will focus on bringing foreign students to study in our higher educational institutions. The Finance Minister disclosed that draft legislation for setting up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) would be presented in the year ahead. This will help to comprehensively reform the regulatory system of higher education to promote greater autonomy and focus on better academic outcomes.
Highlighting the recent achievements, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman said that while there was not a single Indian institution in the top 200 in the world university rankings five years back, there are three institutions now – two IITs and IISc Bangalore – in the top 200 bracket. This has been achieved due to concerted efforts by the institutions to boost their standards and also project their credentials better.
Giving further details, the Finance Minister said that Massive online open courses through the SWAYAM initiative have helped bridge the digital divide for disadvantaged section of the student community. To upgrade the quality of teaching, the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme in higher education was started, aimed at tapping the global pool of scientists and researchers, she explained. The IMPRINT or Impacting Research Innovation and Technology scheme began as a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in selected domains needed by the country. It is because of this that Higher Educational Institutions are now becoming the centres of innovation, the Minister said.
