The Hindu : More for literacy schemes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 01, 2002

National

National

More for literacy schemes

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 28. Certain that the 93rd Amendment to the Constitution _ making free and compulsory education for all children in the age group of 6-14 a fundamental right _ would sail through the Rajya Sabha, a 22.5 per cent increase in allocation has been envisaged for the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy in the budget.

And since the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the mode through which the Government hopes to universalise elementary education, this centrally sponsored scheme has got the lion's share of the Rs. 4,900 crores that has been allocated to the department. Besides SSA _ the allocation for which has increased three-fold from Rs. 500 crores _ the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) has also bagged a fair share of the budgetary support to the Department.

Since many of the existing projects are to be subsumed by SSA, allocations for Operation Blackboard and the Non-Formal Education-Education Guarantee Scheme and the Alternative Innovative Education Scheme have been reduced from Rs. 520 crores to Rs. 58.50 crores in the case of the former and Rs. 399 crores to Rs. 1.80 crores for the latter.

While SSA and DPEP have walked away with the largest portion of the budget for the department, the biggest jump in percentage terms has been in the allocation for the North-Eastern States where it has gone up from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 388 crores. Similarly, there is a quantum jump in the lump sum provision for projects and schemes for the region in the allocation for the other two departments within the Human Resource and Development Ministry _ the Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education and the Department of Women and Child Development (WCD).

In the case of the latter, the plan allocation has gone up by 33 per cent to Rs. 2,200 crores to sustain the ``policy, legislative and programme initiatives'' launched during the last calendar year which was dedicated to women's empowerment.

With a view to attracting more women to the ``scientific profession'', there is a proposal to institute 100 scholarships annually in the Department of Science and Technology.

Rendering support to the National Nutrition Mission announced by the Prime Minister in his Independence speech last year, the Finance Minister has assured that provision would be made for supplying food grains at subsidised rates to adolescent girls and expectant-nursing mothers belonging to BPL families through the Integrated Child Development Scheme.

While the thrust of the allocation for the HRD Ministry is undoubtedly on universalisation of elementary education, budgetary support for an important support mechanism _ the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (better known as the Mid-day Meal Scheme) _ has registered only a marginal increase over last year's revised estimate of Rs. 1,031 crores against the initial Rs. 930 crores.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National