Page 60 - EW March 2025

Special Report

economists and development scien- erhouse (Rupa, 2024). For a review
tists, persist in making a distinction of this book see (https://www.educa-
between hard infrastructure — roads, tionworld.in/perfect-prescription/).
bridges, power plants, railways — Yet when interviewed by your
and soft infrastructure, i.e, human correspondent for EducationWorld,
resources. Unfortunately since newly Subramanian defended the BJP/
independent India, impoverished by NDA government’s failure to enhance
almost 200 years of loot-and-scoot the outlay for education to 6 percent
British rule embarked upon the path of GDP despite its election manifestos
of national development and recon- repeatedly promising to do so. Sub-
struction, there’s been little awareness ramanian contended that since the
that hard infrastructure requires to be GDP is rising by more than 6 percent
managed and maintained by well-edu- annually, the outlay for education is
cated and trained human resources to rising automatically (https://www.
optimise return on investment. educationworld.in/ew-interview-dr-
A LTHOUGH IN THE INITIAL Subramanian: contradictory sophistry economic-adviser-govt-of-india/).
krishnamurthy-subramanian-chief-
Such sophistry is echoed by all es-
years after the newly in-
dependent nation ill-ad-
Anantha Nageswaran (“inputs don’t
visedly opted for adoption (let alone voluminous paperwork de- tablishment economists including V.
of the capital-intensive heavy industry manded by banks), it’s no wonder that guarantee outcomes”) and even in-
development model (instead of the farm productivity has remained rock- dependent journalist Swaminathan
labour-intensive wage goods model), bottom despite substantial investment Aiyar who stresses that efficiency of
during the years of the Soviet-inspired in roads, irrigation, electricity and expenditure rather than larger out-
First and Second Five year Plans (1951- market connectivity. lays, is required to improve public
61), GDP growth averaged 4 percent, “Output increases the most in In- education.
during the next 20 years it plunged to dia with an increase in the quality In her 74-minute Union Budget
3.25-3.5. Primarily because the advice of labour. The significance of educa- 2025-26 presentation speech to Par-
of a high-powered panel headed by Dr. tion for economic growth has been liament and the nation, finance min-
D.C. Kothari, Chairman of University widely acknowledged since Gary S. ister Sitharaman ringingly quoted
Grants Commission, to increase the Becker’s groundbreaking research Telugu poet and playwright Gujarada
annual national outlay for education which earned him the Nobel Prize. In Appa Rao (1862-1915) to the effect
to a minimum of 6 percent of GDP was fact, the historical evaluation of high- that “A country is not just its soil; a
ignored. growth episodes in Chapter 5 shows country is its people” spotlighting ag-
Post-independence India has paid clearly that every country improved riculture, MSMEs (micro, small and
a heavy price for ignoring this sage its educational outcomes to further medium enterprises) and investment
advice. Because of poor quality edu- its economic growth. Among all factor in people, economy and innovation
cation, especially primary-secondary inputs including capital, quality and as the “theme” of her latest budget.
schooling, substantial investment in quantity of labour, energy, material All these sectors need high quality
infrastructure and heavy industry, and services, a 1 percent increase in labour/people, ipso facto underscor-
has not paid off because of substan- labour quality makes the greatest con- ing that education and skilling is the
dard manpower. Agriculture yields tribution… As the quality of labour de- essential precondition of realising the
per acre in India are one-tenth to one- pends significantly on education, this theme of Budget 2025-26.
fifth of developed OECD countries and underlines the importance of educa- However, as usual eloquent rheto-
even newly developed China, because tion for India to reap its demographic ric and fine sentiments haven’t been
as repeatedly testified by the Annual dividend,” writes Krishnamurthy backed by meaningful allocations for
Status of Education Report of the Subramanian, former Chief Eco- education in Budget 2025-26. The
Pratham Education Foundation, class nomic Advisor to the Government of Centre’s total outlay for education
VII children in rural India can’t read India, professor at the top-ranked pri- this year is budgeted at Rs.1.28 lakh
class II textbooks and solve simple nu- vate sector Indian School of Business, crore cf. Rs.1.20 lakh crore last year
merical sums. With the large major- Hyderabad and currently Executive and actual (revised) expenditure of
ity of farmers unable to comprehend Director of the International Mon- Rs.1.14 lakh crore in 2024-25. In this
simple fertiliser and pesticides usage etary Fund, in his deeply researched connection, it’s pertinent to note that
leaflets, calculate farm input measures and well-argued India@100 — Envi- the social services (education and
and understand elementary finance sioning Tomorrow’s Economic Pow- health) budget for 2025-26 at Rs.1.98

60 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2025