The government has reduced the allocation to the older Indian Institutes of Management by 25 per cent to Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million), while raising the outlay for the All India Council for Technical Education by 80 per cent to Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million).
The IIMs at Kozhikode and Indore, which are relatively new, will be provided with funds to meet the deficit arising out of providing the need-based scholarships up to 100 per cent fee waiver.
On the other hand, IIM Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore and Lucknow will receive lower budgetary support since they have sufficient corpus to meet the deficit arising out of providing the need-based scholarships.
The higher allocation for AICTE will be used for reorganising, restructuring and strengthening of the AICTE Bureau of Technical Education and its Committee and Boards.
The Board of Management Studies, under the AICTE is expected to organise a single common entrance test for all the 900-odd management schools approved under the Board within the next two years.
There was a 10 per cent increase in the fund allocation for the human resource development ministry, with maximum emphasis given to the elementary education.
The government has also stressed on vocationalisation of education by increasing allocation by a 200 per cent.
The Plan outlay for the human resource development ministry was increased by as much as 10 per cent. The ministry has been given an additional Rs 1,025 crore (Rs 10.25 billion) for 2004-05. The total allocation for the ministry has risen by 8 per cent.
The allocation for the elementary education was increased by nearly 10 per cent amounting to Rs 550.08 crore (Rs 5.50 billion).
The secondary and higher education departments have witnessed a modest increase of 4 per cent in its allocation by nearly Rs 225 crore (Rs 2.25 billion).
The government has increased allocation for the vocationalisation of education by more than 200 per cent. Spending on major primary and elementary education schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan will be enhanced by at least 11 per cent.
