NEW DELHI, July 25
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, on Thursday, slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for allegedly slashing the budget of higher education.
Referring to the allocation to higher education in the Union Budget 2024, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, he said, “BJP-RSS wants to destroy India’s education sector by a thousand cuts. The Budget for Higher Education has been slashed by a whopping Rs 9,600 crore, the interim Budget also slashed it by 16.38 per cent.”
Kharge, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wrote in a post on X, “Budget for IITs and IIMs have been cut for the second consecutive year.” The Congress chief said, “Budget cut for UGC by a massive 61 per cent. UGC is a statutory body and was supposed to be the only grant-giving agency in the country, but the Modi government has snatched its power, thereby trampling upon its autonomy.”
“UGC’s functioning of granting funds has been usurped by Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) – a venture between Canara Bank and the Ministry of Education. This will not only compel colleges and universities to introduce more self-financing courses but also increase the financial woes of SC, ST, OBC, and EWS students,” Kharge contended. He further said, “Modi government’s five-pronged attack on India’s education system continues unabated in the form of controlling universities, strangulating the funds of autonomous institutions, undermining their autonomy, destroying public education through cronyism and betraying the youth.”
