Telangana : A round table meet here on Tuesday organised by SIO Telangana on the topic ‘Union and State budget 2023 – Discussing Education and Employment Allocations’.
Pointing out the drastic drop in educational budget Prof. Laxmi narayana (Professor of economics at Hyderabad Central University and Secretary Save Education committee) said that PM Modi gave the slogan of “Beti bachau- beti padhao” but it turns out to be “Beti bachau- budget girau” and in parallel, CM KCR spoke about improving the infrastructure of Government Schools after visiting the Delhi State and introduced the Mana ooru- Mana badi scheme but state budget doesn’t have any item with that regard.
He added that: “it is high time to alert the governmentt and create a sensation so that the budget get some serious consideration based on requirement. Women counts to 49% of total population, SC’s counts 16%, ST’s 9% but budegt doesn’t gets allocated specifically rather it merely gives some numbers in air. Center’s dreadful take on Madrasas budget to cut down schemes from 193Cr to as little as 10Cr.Moreover, no scholarships are being awarded to Madarsa students, MANF has been striked-off which very clearly indicates the systematic neglection of minorities in India,”
Mr. Saleem Pasha from Osmania University said that at least 1000 Crores are required only for Osmania University itself but in contrast, the State Budget allocated merely 500cr for all the State Universities which doesn’t suffice even to the salaries of Osmania staff.
“In 2014-15 the budget allocation towards education was 11% which gradually fell down to 6.5% in the current budget while the ideal budget prescribed by Kothari commission for central government is 10% of the total GDP and 20% of the total State Budget,”
He added that 4000 government schools reportedly have been shut down in the name of rationalisation and the Government schools were operating in private rented buildings which allegedly are over due for not paying rents since past many months or even years which stakes the education of children and the state budget doesn’t talk about it.
Prof. Masood Ahmed(Former president-Association of Indian management schools(AIMS)) reffered the Oxford Report that the density of the population and allocation of budegt in educating the masses should be in proportion, but the budget was ironic that “here one of the largest population of the world and the budget for this huge population nowhere matches the requirements. Where the Defence and other sectors get maximum budget share but the condition of education, who are nation builders or the “Amrit peedhi” can’t even sign in their own native language. While we are marching towards the 5 trillion economy the world’s 42% of poverty is in India and this budget doesn’t have anything for the common man,”
Mr. Ali Asgar(Founder and president of Association for Socio Economic Empowerment of the Marginalised(ASEEM) working on issues of Rights and Entitlements of minority communities in India) said that the GST is an unbearable burden on poor as he pays an average of 7% of his salary as GST and the system is such that the poor pays more tax than the rich.
Malik Rayyan(student activist) pointed out that primary education has got well left where the minority enrollment is higher and needs more resources. “Education in Native language has got no mentioning, while in densly populated slums education in english is a backbreaker which shows that the union government is painting India in a single colour kicking out the beauty of diversity of different languages,”
Mr. Abdul Hafeez said that the hateful, communal and dividing ideas of centre is clearly visible in the budget which is choking the future of India by cutting of educational budget and we as a civil society needs to come forward and build the capacity towards a learned and Just society.
The round table meeting came to fruitful conclusion by agreeing on future collaborative projects on betterment of education.