The Hindu : Fund to finance education comes a cropper

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 03, 2002

National

National

Fund to finance education comes a cropper

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI, APRIL 2. After much fanfare and despite commitments for generous donations, the Bharat Shiksha Kosh (BSK) _ a fund announced by the Government in December to mobilise extra-budgetary resources to finance education _ has come a cropper.

With the beginning of the new financial year, the Government's initial contribution of Rs. 1 crore towards the BSK has lapsed because of the Human Resource Development Ministry's delay in getting the BSK registered under the Societies Registration Act.

Apparently, the HRD Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, is yet to give the "nod" to the draft Memorandum of Association (MoA) and Rules and Regulations without the finalisation of which the BSK cannot be registered. This, despite Dr. Joshi billing the BSK as one of the major achievements of the Government in many of his electoral speeches during the run-up to the last round of Assembly elections.

Sources in the HRD Ministry said that a draft MoA and Rules and Regulations had been prepared and sent to the Minister for clearance in January so that the fund could be set up in the last financial year itself. Questions in Parliament and reminders from the Cabinet Secretariat, too, could not accelerate the process of setting up the BSK which was cleared by the Cabinet on December 18.

The Minister, it is learnt, prefers a loose arrangement to the draft MoA, and is not particularly keen on placing the BSK within the purview of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India _ as had been agreed to by the Cabinet _ on the premise that the Government's contribution would not exceed the seed money of Rs. 1 crore.

While the initial budgetary allocation for the BSK was a token of Rs. 1 lakh, the Ministry drew money from another budget head to increase the seed money to Rs. 1 crore. Through the fund, the Government hoped to generate resources from NRIs and domestic philanthropists for various educational activities as a supplement to governmental efforts.

As per the Cabinet decision, the fund _ which can receive donations/contributions/endowments from individuals and corporates in both cash and kind _ is to be managed through a registered society which would have both Government and donor representation. Contributions to the Kosh would qualify for cent per cent deduction under the Income-Tax Act, 1961. ., and would also be exempted from the provisions of the FCRA.

The provisions of the fund allow sponsorship as per which any organisation or individual can sponsor educational activities in a particular village, town, city, school or the education of a child. For now, however, this effort to tap alternative sources of funding has drawn a blank; and not because people are not willing to chip in, but courtesy the powers that be.

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