As India's quality of schooling plummets, here's how Budget 2019 can help

The school education system in India is facing a shortage of trained teachers and a lack of proper infrastructure.

 

Interim Budget 2019: India stepped up its spending on school education by 9.35% from 2014-15 (Rs 45,722.41 crore) to 2018-19 (Rs 50,000 crore). But education’s share in the total union budget fell from 2.55% to 2.05% in this period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of budgetary data.

On February 1, 2019, when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) presents its last budget before general elections, it will have to address a critical issue in India’s school education: Its quality compares poorly with many south Asian and BRICS nations even though India spends a higher percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) on education.

In rural India, almost half of grade V students cannot read a grade II text and more than 70% them cannot do division, said the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018. These numbers indicate a fall in standards over the last 10 years.

Twin problems of school funding: low allocation and underutilisation

Till April 2018, school education in India was mostly covered by three centrally-sponsored schemes:

• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA or education for all) that aims to provide universal education to all children between the ages of 6 to 14 years.
• Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA or national middle education mission) which facilitates secondary education.
• Teacher Education which aims to create sound institutional infrastructure for pre-service and in-service training of elementary and secondary school teachers.

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Govt's intent to present 'regular budget' serious, grave: Congress

Tewari said the NDA-BJP government does not have the electoral mandate and it does not have the electoral legitimacy to present six full budgets in five years.

 

 

Interim Budget 2019: The Congress on Thursday said it will strongly oppose both inside and outside Parliament the presentation of a "full budget" by the BJP-led NDA government as it has "no electoral legitimacy" and the step will go against set precedents and Parliamentary traditions.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari termed as "serious and grave" reports claiming that the BJP-led Government was planning to present a "regular budget" and demanded that it should follow constitutional propriety and only presents a vote-on-account on February 1, 2019 ahead of general elections.

BJP sources have indicated that the Modi government is likely to present a full-fledged budget with a slew of announcements on welfare measures relating to farmers, youth and women.

"A budget is budget. The government is likely present a full-fledged budget. There is no such rule that the government before elections should not present a budget for the entire year. The new government may make changes after the polls if it so wishes," a sources in BJP said.

Tewari said if the reports in public space are correct then it would be "a flagrant violation" of all parliamentary conventions, procedures and traditions that have been followed over the past seven decades since the Constitution of India came into effect.

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What 2019 Budget can do to help India clean its air, reduce coal addiction

Addressing policy issues are important if India is to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 to install 175 giga watt (GW).

 

Interim Budget 2019: India has one of the world’s largest programmes to expand renewables--a doubling of capacity over the next four years--but India’s ambitious 2022 target of generating enough non-coal energy to replace the equivalent of 175 coal-powered plants is veering off track

On February 1, 2019, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a chance to get things back on track, help India reduce its addiction to coal, help clean the country’s air and meet the global climate-change commitments of the world’s fourth-fastest growing carbon polluter

After record growth in the installed capacity of renewables over the four years to 2017, capacity addition slowed down in 2018. The main reasons: an anti-dumping duty imposed by the government on imported solar modules to aid domestic manufacturing, higher rates of taxation under the goods and service tax (GST) and unclear policy.

So, the last budget before 2019 general elections is of particular significance to the renewables sector, which comprises electricity from solar, wind, hydro and bio power.

The upcoming budget can help remove policy uncertainties from the sector and provide “long-term indications”, Daanish Verma, executive vice president, sustainable investment banking, YES Bank, told IndiaSpend.

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Explainer: What is an interim budget? What FM Jaitley can and cannot do

This will be the last Budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 General Elections.

Interim Budget 2019: With just a few months left before the Narendra Modi government formally completes its tenure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present NDA regime's first interim budget on February 1, 2019.

As this will be the ruling BJP government’s last budget before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, here's an explanation of what an interim budget actually means.

What is an interim budget?

An interim budget is presented by a government which is going through a transition period or is in its last year in office ahead of the general elections. Traditionally, an incumbent government cannot present a full-fledged Union Budget in the election year. Instead, the Finance Minister presents an interim budget during the joint sitting of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in the Parliament, the livemint reported.

With an interim budget, the incumbent government seeks a vote of approval from the Parliament to draw money from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its budget expenses before the end of the financial year, i.e; March 31st, 2019. It is a traditional practice which takes place in the run-up to every general election, according to an India Today report.

The full-fledged Union Budget is presented by the newly-elected government after Lok Sabha polls. In recent times, interim budgets have been instrumental for the incumbent governments to list out their achievements to draw voters' support.

Read full news here → Union Budget 2019

Budget 2019: FinMin starts 'Know Your Budget' series to educate people on Twitter

The 'Know Your Budget' series, which explains the importance of Union Budget and its making, would continue for about a fortnight.

Interim Budget 2019: Seeking to educate general public about the budgetary process, the finance ministry Tuesday started a series on Twitter providing definitions of various terms used in the budget.

The 'Know Your Budget' series, which explains the importance of Union Budget and its making, would continue for about a fortnight.

The government on February 1 would unveil the interim Budget for 2019-20 as the general elections are due in the next couple of months. The Union Budget 2019 for the next fiscal would be presented by the new government.

The series which began on the ministry's Twitter handle on Tuesday explained what is Union Budget and Vote on Account.

The Budget, the ministry explains, "is the most comprehensive report of the government's finances in which revenues from all sources and outlays for all activities are consolidated.

Read full news here → Budget 2019

UP Inc welcomes Union Budget 2017

Industrialists laud focus on agriculture, MSME sectors and its objective to maintain fiscal prudence

Uttar Pradesh Inc has welcomed the Union Budget 2017 for its purported focus on the agricultural and Micro, Small and Medium (MSME) sectors and its objective to maintain fiscal prudence.

The general opinion among the industrialists and industry chambers was the Budget had primarily focused on the farm sector, rural population, youth, poor and underprivileged health care, infrastructure, financial sector for stronger institutions, speedy accountability, public services, prudent fiscal management and tax administration.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) UP State Council chairman and Tasty Dairy Specialties Limited managing director Atul Mehra said the Budget had accorded highest priority to rural and agricultural sectors due to its large employment potential.

"The Budget would certainly boost the Indian economy as all the key sectors have been considered and provided for therein," he said.

"Reduction of corporate tax for MSMEs with turnover of less than Rs 50 crore is a major relief for more than 96 per cent of the assesses," senior CII office bearer and CP Milk & Food Product Ltd director Jai Agarwal underlined.

Meanwhile, MSME chamber Indian Industries Association (IIA) national president Manish Goel welcomes Income Tax (IT) reduction for companies with annual turnover of Rs 50 crore to 25 per cent. (read more...)

2016, the year that was: Business and Economics

Millions of leaked documents, dubbed the Panama Papers, exposed the legal but dubious tax dealings

Around this time last year, the Coalition government was trying to manage the nation’s Business and Economy despite political shakeups, we were all watching a country on the verge of leaving the European Union, and some businesses were in the spotlight for behaving badly. Anyone getting deja vu?

As we look back at what made news in business news  and economics news in 2016, there is certainly a little bit of history repeating, in addition to some being made.

1. Scandals, insolvency and bad behaving banks
2. Questioning China’s influence in Australia
3. Changing industries
4. Global waves beyond Australia’s shores
5. Backpackers, 457 visa and migrant workers
6. Company results
7. Budget, election, budget update

As in the Trump and Brexit tumult overseas, Australians are also unhappy with inequality in the property market, superannuation and household incomes and wealth, just to name a few.

But despite all this tension, it should be calm around the Christmas dinner table. As long as no one mentions smashed avocado…

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