Grants for higher education to autonomous bodies including the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Higher Educational Institutes funded by the Ministry of Education have increased by nearly 44% to Rs 34,639.96 crore during 2022-23 from Rs 23,988.63 crore during 2018-19.
Furthermore, the grants released for salary of staff employed in these institutes have also increased by around 36% to Rs 15,396.82 crore during 2022-23 from Rs 11,243.76 crore during 2018-19.
The information was provided by Minister of State (MoS) Education, Subhas Sarkar, in a written reply to the Upper House of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha). “Funds are released to the institutions by the Ministry of Education based upon the demands received from the institutions and funds allocated by the Ministry of Finance every year,” the minister said in response to a question on alleged non-release of funds to higher education institutions since April.
Meanwhile, ground work on merging the three regulatory bodies- UGC, AICTE and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), under the proposed Higher Education Council of India (HECI) bill is underway. However, according to critics the bill does not include any provisions regarding disbursal of grants. According to the draft bill, the Ministry of Education will be the sole authority to grant funds.