Budget and education

(pl double click on image to see figures clearly)







Finance minister P Chidambaram has been exceedingly generous to the ministry of education- no question about that.

• As the table shows, the allocation for education is up by nearly 34%.
• Within education, technical education is a big gainer- the increase in allocation is 123%!. More than a quarter of the increased allocation for education is for technical education.
• The IITs get Rs 879 crore more
• The IIMs get an additional Rs 70 crore.
• The allocation for AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) is up by Rs 702 crore

The increased largesse for IITs and IIMs, no doubt, has to do with the expansion in seats to accommodate the reservation of 27% for OBCs. Whatever the reason, Mr Chidambaram's munifence is welcome.