Budgetary in education is misleading : Congress

New Delhi, Feb 7: The Congress on Monday said that the amount allocated for the education sector in the Union Budget 2017-18 is a misleading figure as the government has actually reduced the allocation instead of increasing it.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Narendra Modi government has been consistently cutting down the Budget for education ever since it has come to power.

This year, the government has allocated Rs 79,685.95 crore for the education sector. Last year, the allocation was Rs 72,394 crore.

Although it is around 10 percent higher than last year, Singhvi said it reads so "only on paper".

"This year the government has allocated 3.71 percent of the total Budget outlay for the education sector. This is up from 3.65 percent of total Budget outlay last year. However, there is a catch -- in terms of percentage of GDP, the allocation has come down," Singhvi said.

"Last year, the allocation for education sector was 0.49 per cent of GDP. This year, it is 0.47 percent of GDP. So, it is actually down by 0.02 percent of GDP," he explained.

"In the year 2013-14, when the Congress-led UPA government presented its last Budget, the allocation for education sector was 4.57 of the total Budget outlay or 0.63 percent of GDP. In 2014-15, the Modi government reduced it to 4.14 percent of the total Budget or 0.55 percent of GDP," Singhvi said.

He said that in subsequent years, the budgetary allocation for education came down further.

"In 2015-16, the allocation was further reduced to 3.75 per cent of Budget or 0.5 percent of GDP. In 2016-17, it came down to 3.65 per cent of total Budget or 0.49 percent of GDP. So, there is a continuous decline in the budgetary allocation for the education sector," he said.

Singhvi said that the present government is talking much about education but has been consistently cutting down the allocation for education.

He said that so far the government has nothing considerable to show under its "Swayam" and "Sankalp" schemes which it launched with much fanfare.

"All we get from this government is empty slogans, textbook terrorism and installing incompetent people to institutions of high repute such as Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and Indian Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)," Singhvi said.