A substantial hike in the Plan Budget for higher education, a new loan interest subsidy scheme and scholarships for university-level education, along with a National Mission in Education through ICT are some of the key features of the education Budget. Education has been allocated Rs 36, 400 crore with Rs 26,800 being earmarked for school education and Rs 9,600 crore for higher education. The allocation, including the non-plan component, is Rs 44,528.21 crore, up 19 per cent.

•Educational Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme: The scheme proposes to provide subsidy on the interest on loan borrowed from the banks, under the educational loan scheme circulated by the Indian Bank Association for pursuing professional education.

•Scholarship for College and University Students: A new scholarship scheme under the Central Sector to cover at least 2 per cent of the students passing out of schools every year.

•National Mission in Education through ICT: It envisages the developing of a system of identification and nurturing of the human resource pool. It also envisages effective utilisation of intellectual resources, certification of the knowledge acquired by the learners either through formal or non-formal system.

Mukherjee enhanced overall Plan Budget for higher education by Rs. 2,000 crore over interim budget estimates. He further announced the allocation of Rs 2,113 crore for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs. 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. He also proposed to allocate Rs 827 crore for opening one Central University in each uncovered state.

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