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Punjab spends niggardly on
education
Jaswinder Singh Brar
 The
indispensability of public resources in education can not be over-emphasised.
It becomes far more crucial in case of developing world suffering
from acute poverty, inequalities, illiteracy, child labour,
unemployment, malnutrition, and multiple social and economic
disparities and discriminations.
The Constitution
of India has demarcated a strong role for the state in the domain of
education. Article-45 in unequivocal terms states that 'the state
shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the
commencement of the constitution, for the free and compulsory
education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen
years'. The Constitutional Amendment-1976, made education the joint
responsibility of Centre and state governments by placing the
education on the concurrent list.
 Kothari
Commission (1964-66) has recommended the transfer of resources worth
six per cent of state income to education sector through the medium
of public funds. This target figured in almost all plan documents
and other policy papers of the last decade or so.
There is
considerable amount of variation among the states related to
educational spending. Presently, out of all of 28 states, 11 states
provide resources through the medium of state-government budget to
the education department which are more than four per cent of
respective incomes. Nine states provide between two-and-a-half and
four per cent. Punjab falls in the category of typical eight states-
others are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,
Maharashtra, and West Bengal- which transfer the lowest
proportion(about 2 per cent) of their respective state-incomes to
the education sector by the medium of public spending.
Public
expenditure on education refers to the expenditure incurred by a
government out of its total budget on the development of education.
The public expenditure on education consists of three components,
viz. (a) revenue account, (b) capital account, and (c) loans and
advances.
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Punjab
has been found to be spending considerably less among the
neighbouring and other states during 2004-07. Moreover, the
states with much lower levels of per capita incomes-Bihar and
Rajasthan- had spared comparatively higher proportion of their
respective budgets and incomes for education. Thus, a
fundamental distortion has occurred in the budgetary spending of
the state |
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The term public
expenditure on education (i.e. education budget) here refers to the
sum total of all of three components. The various time-periods
reported here have a specific context. The first two triennium
averages (1968-71 and 1978-81) based on concerned financial years
are used as bench marks for comparisons. The subsequent period of
about a decade or so witnessed the militancy-related violence and
disturbances. In case of Punjab, the fifteen years period from
1992-93 to 2006-07 is a period of stable democracy. Three
governments completed their full terms alternately: Congress
Government (1992-1997); Akali-BJP Government (1997-2002); and
Congress Government (2002-2007). It was normally expected that
during the said period the state would made more efforts for the
development of human resources. The populace would realise
'peace-cum-democratic dividend'.
 But,
even a cursory look at the report card of
Punjab
pertaining to educational budget right now presents a disturbing
picture. Apparently, the education budget at current prices
increased over-period. The absolute level of education budget on
triennium basis rose from Rs. 27.69 crore (1968-71), to Rs. 109.40
crore (1978-81), to Rs. 699.82 crore (1992-95), and to Rs. 2275.45
crore (2004-07). But, the education budget as proportion of overall
budgetary expenditure of the state had declined substantially. The
state had transferred as much as 22.42 per cent and 23.82 per cent
of her total budget on education respectively during 1968-71 and
1978-81. It declined to 13.08 per cent during 1992-95 and to 10.72
per cent during 2004-07. It means the share of 'activities other
than education' in the state budget was about 90 per cent during
2004-07. However, it was about 76 per cent during 1978-81. The state
transferred the highest proportion of income (3.06 per cent) to
education only during 1998-2001. It involves the impact of the then
grade-revision. Subsequently, it registered a continuous decline and
reached to 2.33 per cent during 2004-07.
Similarly, the
state has been found to be spending considerably less among the
neighbouring and other states during 2004-07. Moreover, the states
with much lower levels of per capita incomes-Bihar and Rajasthan-
had spared comparatively higher proportion of their respective
budgets and incomes for education. Thus, a fundamental distortion
has occurred in the budgetary spending of the state which needs
immediate attention and correction. There is a dire necessity to
increase the education budget of the state in a systematic and
time-bound manner. (Courtesy The Tribune)
30
December 2009
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