Tirupati: The Andhra Pradesh (AP) budget for the financial year 2020-21, which was presented on June 17, 2020, has reduced the allocation for the state’s education sector to just 11.21% compared with 14.31% in the last academic year.
Presented just as India emerges from a lockdown aimed to control the spread of the coronavirus, the AP budget reflects the harsh fallout of nearly three months of no economic activity by cutting expenditure across sectors. This year’s Rs 2,24,789.18 crore budget represents a fall of 1.4% when compared to the last year.
“I would urge this House to revisit our definition of capital expenditure,” finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said while presenting the budget. “Consider the fact that every single paisa spent on enhancing the capacity of our citizenry to improve their opportunities in life is a spending on human capital — the central theme of this budget and the core philosophy of the manifesto.”
The YSR Congress Party government has thus allocated Rs 37,659 crore for direct benefit transfer schemes such as YSR Pension Kanuka, YSR Aasara, Amma Vodi and so on. The allocation for the welfare of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes is Rs 1,840 crore and Rs 7,525 crore respectively, while the allocation for Kapu welfare is Rs 2,845 crore, with Rs 23,406 crore for the welfare of backward classes.
But the allocation for the education sector is a lower percentage of the budget than it has ever been before. In fact, AP’s education sector has seen a consistent fall in resources from 16.44% in 2015-16, when the TDP led the government, to 13.08% in 2018-19, when that government presented the last budget of its term. This year’s budget has seen the allocation for education fall by 3% from the previous financial year.
This is much less than the national average allocated to education by states such as Delhi and Kerala. The Kothari Commission on education had recommended that 30% of the state budget, 10% of the Central budget and 6% of the GDP should be apportioned for the education sector.
The government has estimated revenue receipts at Rs 1.61 lakh crore against last fiscal’s revised estimate of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. At the very start of the post-lockdown economic revival, this may be wishful thinking.
Within the education sector, the state budget has allocated Rs 2,276.97 crore for higher education, a Rs 318.3 crore (12.28%) fall from the Rs 2,595.87 crore that was provided last year. The mid-day meal scheme, rechristened Jagan Anna Goru Mudda, has seen a Rs 102.14 crore (9.5%) fall from Rs 1,077 crore to Rs 974.86 crore. And even the flagship scheme called Amma Vodi, which entails depositing Rs 15,000 into the accounts of the mothers of school-going children, has only received Rs 6,000 crore this year, down from last year’s Rs 6,455.80 crore.
Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: Will ‘Amma Vodi’ End Up Drawing Kids Away From Govt Schools?
Of the Rs 29,772.79 crore allocated last year for secondary education, the government spent Rs 17,971.24 crore. For this financial year, it has allocated Rs 22,604.11 crore, which represents a fall of 24.08% from the budget estimate.
P. Babu Reddy, general secretary of the United Teachers Federation, AP, said the reduction in budget does not bode well for the education sector, which is already facing many problems. “All employees including teachers received half their salaries in the months of April and May. There are nearly 20,000 vacancies for teachers. Some teaching posts have to be sanctioned in upgraded schools. There is a shortage of mandal educational officers and district educational officers, the people who supervise teachers.”
Education is not the only sector to suffer in this fiscal’s budget. In fact, the only sector to show an increase in allocation is welfare. Rs 41,456 crore has been allocated for various welfare measures.
V. Balasubramanyam, an MLC who represents the teachers’ constituency from Prakasam, Nellore and Chittoor districts, said, “The budget is full of schemes which involve the distribution of money, while sectors like agriculture, irrigation, electricity and education have got less than they did last year. The aim [of this budget] seems to be to increase the popularity of the government rather than to create long term assets for the state. There should be a balance between cash doles and asset creation.”
Given the economic slump induced by the lockdown, the resources allocated by this budget could fall further, the MLC pointed out. “The actual expenditure cannot be even guessed now,” he said. “Development activities such as laying roads to increase connectivity between tribal areas and the rest of the state have been dropped and tribals are being given cash handouts instead. Schemes relating to self-employment, land development and so on, have also been dropped.”
