Education Budget 2009-2010

Education

• Provision for the scheme ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ substantially increased to Rs.900 crore and the provision for setting up and up-gradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission enhanced to Rs.495 crore.
• Rs.827 crore allocated for opening one Central University in each uncovered State.
• Rs.2,113 crore allocated for IITs and NITs which includes a provision of Rs.450 crore for new IITs and NITs.
• The overall Plan budget for higher education is to be increased by Rs.2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10.
• Rs.50 crore allocated for Punjab University, Chandigarh. Plan allocation for Chandigarh to be suitably enhanced during the year to provide better infrastructure to the people of Chandigarh.

Female Literacy

• National Mission for Female Literacy to be launched with focus on minorities, SC, ST and other marginalized groups with the aim to reduce level of female illiteracy by half in three years.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

• All ICD Services to be extended to every child under the age of six by March, 2012.

Student Loans to Weaker Sections

• To enable students from economically weaker sections to access higher education, a scheme to provide full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium introduced to cover loans taken from scheduled banks to pursue any of the approved courses of study in technical and professional streams from recoganised institutions in India.

Welfare of Minorities

• Plan outlay of Ministry of Minority Affairs enhanced from Rs.1,000 crore in B.E. 2008-09 to Rs.1,740 crore in 2009-10 registering an increase of 74 per cent. This includes Rs.990 crore for Multi-Sectoral Development Programme for Minorities, Grants-in-aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation, National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation and pre and post matric scholarship for minorities.

• Allocations made for the new schemes of National Fellowship for Students from minority community and Grants-in-aid to Central Wakf Council for computerization of records of State Wakf Boards.

• Rs.25 crore each allocated for establishing new campuses at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala by Aligarh Muslim University.