Page 5 - EW March 2021

From the
Editor

THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE

Volume X XII No.3

BOARD OF ADVISORS
N.R. Narayana Murthy, H.V. Gowthama, Shukla
Bose, Dr. Glenn Christo, Dr. R. Natarajan, Anand W
Sudarshan (Bangalore); Mala Ramadorai, Adi riting an analysis of the Union Budget and its impact
Godrej, Dr. Augustine Pinto, Krishan Khanna, on Indian education every year for the past two decades
Guilherme Vaz, Ketan Gala, Kirit Mehta (Mumbai);
Dr. Ramdas Pai (Manipal); Dr. Geeta Kingdon has been an anguishing and frustrating — nevertheless
(Lucknow); Rajiv Desai, Dr. Parth Shah, Jeroninio necessary — obligation of your editor. For 20 years, we
Almeida, Premchand Palety (Delhi); Dr. Kannan
Gireesh (Chennai); Robindra Subba (Kurseong); have been featuring post-Budget cover stories highlight-
Sanjeev Bolia (Kolkata); Dr. Achyuta Samanta ing the low priority given by successive governments and finance ministers
(Bhubaneswar); Shyama akore (London)
to developing the country’s abundant and high-potential human capital. Alas
EDITOR to no avail. When EducationWorld was launched 21 years ago, the Central
Dilip akore government’s budgetary allocation for public education was equivalent to 0.5
MANAGING EDITOR percent of GDP. And despite continuous pressure exerted by this publication,
Summiya Yasmeen several distinguished academics and economists and the high-powered T.S.R.
CHIEF SUB EDITOR Subramanian (2016) and Dr. K. Kasturirangan (2018) committees to increase
Sundar Anand it substantially so that the annual national (Centre plus states) expenditure on
Paromita Sengupta, Gopi Chand N, (Bangalore), public education could rise to 6 percent of GDP — first recommended by the
Autar Nehru (Delhi) 9868256512, Baishali Kothari Commission way back in 1967 — in 2018-19 it aggregated to 0.43 per-
Mukherjee (Kolkata) 9836491981, Shivani
Chaturvedi (Chennai) 9500506102, Dipta Joshi cent of GDP, in the Covid pandemic disrupted year 2020-21 to 0.44 percent
(Mumbai) 9920243111 and is budgeted at 0.42 percent of GDP next year (2021-22).
CHIEF EXECUTIVE The hard reality is that Central government has to take the lead and in-
Bhavin Shah +91 9867382867 crease its annual public education outlay 5x for the 6 percent threshold to be
MARKETING crossed. Unfortunately for independent India’s national development effort
West: Tejas Pattni (General Manager) 9022487997 that began in 1947, no Union finance minister at the Centre has ever allocated
E-mail: marketing@educationworld.in more than 1 percent of GDP for public education. Nor has any state govern-
South India: S. Vijaya Lakshmi 98456 80696
Poonam Shah 9731966373 ment taken up the slack. Therefore national expenditure for public education
North: Hannan Ahmed 9810302768 has averaged a mere 3.25-3.50 percent per year for over seven decades. In the
GRAPHICS Union budget 2021-22 presented to parliament and the nation last month, the
Suresh K. Centre’s allocation for education is Rs.93,224 crore, 6.13 percent lower than
SUBSCRIPTIONS the Rs.99,312 crore budgeted for the current year ending March 31, 2021.
Ajay Kumar: 9108225694/ Admittedly with the economy ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, the gov-
080 43711141 ernment’s tax revenue has plummeted and budget expenditure needed to be
sub@educationworld.in
focused on capital expenditure for infrastructure projects to resuscitate busi-
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: RS.1700 ness and industry. Yet as is contended in our cover story of this issue, human
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION: USD95
Cheques/drafts in favour of DT Media & capital development also needs to be urgently developed.
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore In the spring issue of EW, we highlight the continuous dog-in-the-manger
EDITORIAL policy-continuum of the Central and state governments that doesn’t provide
C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza adequately for public education and simultaneously discourage private educa-
131 Residency Road, Bangalore 560 025. tors from doing so to the detriment of the world’s most high-potential chil-
Tel: 080 22480880; Fax: 2227 5962;
E-mail: editorial@educationworld.in dren.
Website: www.educationworld.in Yet despite this disabling environment, not a few well-intentioned educa-
Printed and published by Dilip akore on behalf tors driven by the spirit of enlightened self-interest are stepping forward to
of DT Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. educate, enable and skill the country’s short-changed children. Check out our
Printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main, In- Eye Witness feature for proof.
dustrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-44. Published
at C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza, 131 Residency
Road. Bangalore 560 025.
Editor Dilip akore.
RNI No. KARENG/1999/00234

MARCH 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 5