Union Budget 2024-25: Students’ Future Under Siege – From Anganwadi to Universities, No One is Safe!
The Union Budget for the financial year is presented as the first budget of the third NDA government. This year’s budget proposes severe cuts to funding in education, especially to support mechanisms for students. Reading this budget document is self-explanatory as a statement of exclusion with a merciless attitude towards students. From Anganwadis to universities, all sections will suffer under the Union Budget of India 2024-25.
Since the budget is not merely numbers but a vision document and priority notice of the government in office that directly affects all sections, it needs to be publicly and seriously scrutinized by the people of the country. Education spending is essential for sustainable national economic growth and social stability. It boosts workforce productivity, creativity, and competitiveness, while also promoting equity and reducing poverty and inequality. Investing in education builds a stronger and more conscious society. Therefore, adequate public funding for education is a basic necessity of society and a duty of the state. It becomes essential for students to audit the Union Budget.
The Budget 2024-25 lacks a vision for understanding national issues but is focused on destroying many foundations of the country, including education. The BJP-led government’s clever tactic of merging many schemes into one makes it difficult to track actual expenditure on specific heads and hold the government accountable. But even with this merging tactic, they have brutally slashed funds for all sections of students. Reading this budget exposes the BJP-led government’s desperate desire to see students starve, suffer, and drop out of education. They have not spared any level, from Anganwadi to universities, nor any categories – SC, ST, OBC, EBC, and non reserved categories are all affected. It aims to ensure that the implementation of the Ambani-Birla Committee (2000) recommendations, which pushes education in India exclusively for the interest of the rich and highly privatised, is carried out. This write-up is incomplete, as detailing every anti-people measure from this government would require an extensive discussion. However, highlighted a few key examples for a basic understanding.
What Does the Education Sector Deserve from a Union Budget?
The Kothari Commission (1966) identified three important facets that would bring about the desired educational resolution: internal transformation to relate education to the life needs and aspirations of the nation, qualitative improvement so that standards are adequate and internationally comparable, and the expansion of educational facilities broadly based on human resource needs with an emphasis on equalization of educational opportunities. The Commission recommended allocating 10% of the central budget and 6% of GDP for education. For decades, progressive student movements, including the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and many education experts, have been advocating for these measures, including the required GDP and budget shares. However, both the central and state governments currently spend around 3% of GDP on education, with the major share coming from the states. Furthermore, there has been no notable increase in education spending observed so far.
The estimated education budget for 2024-25 is ₹1,25,638 crore, with India’s nominal GDP projected at ₹326.4 lakh crore, meaning only 0.38% of GDP will be allocated to education by the central government. Despite being undemocratic and problematic, even the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP)- the BJP-led government’s vision document for education- emphasizes that 6% of GDP and 10% of the union budget allocation are vital for a high-quality, equitable public education system necessary for India’s future growth. But the BJP-led government chose to continue withdrawing support for education.
The budget allocation for the Ministry of Education in 2024-25 reflects a reduction of 7.6% compared with the revised estimate for 2023-24. This is not conducive to achieving the so-called or pretentious goals of the NEP. On one hand, the government is eager to implement the NEP nationwide; on the other hand, the reduced budget allocation reveals the government’s true stance-its support for education through the NEP is merely rhetoric that conceals destructive practices within the same policy.
Assault on Anganwadis and School Education
Despite pressing issues affecting India’s children, Anganwadis-vital for providing nutrition to young mothers and children and for early childhood education linked to future academic success- faced a 1.5% budget cut, decreasing from ₹21,523 crore in 2023 to ₹21,000 crore in 2024-25. This reduction indicates that the government does not prioritize enhancing the infrastructure and capacity of Anganwadis, despite their essential role in improving nutrition.
The School Gross Enrolment Ratio is dropping at an alarming rate by the time children reach higher secondary levels. The intervening years between primary and secondary levels are crucial, and emphasis is needed to control this drop. The analysis of infrastructure status clearly indicates that both public and privately managed schools need improvement to increase national totals. The lockdown due to the COVID pandemic had far-reaching implications, with data beginning to point out the push of children from school education to work; this systematically pushed students out of education, which is a concerning matter. The 2024 budget does not tackle these urgent issues, lacking specific projects or a focus on enhancing infrastructure and learning in government schools. The budget for school education does not demonstrate a significant increase, with an allocation of ₹73,008.10 crore for 2024-25, reflecting a 6.11% rise. Nevertheless, with an inflation rate of 4.5% projected by the Reserve Bank of India, the real growth rate is only 1.61% from the 2023-24 budget estimate and a mere 0.8% growth compared with the revised estimate for 2023-24. Overall, the increase in the school education and literacy budget is less than 1%, with the allocation rising from ₹72,474 crore in the revised estimates for 2023 to ₹73,008 crore in the 2024-25 budget.
Regarding a few specific examples, pre-matric scholarships have seen a drastic cut, which seems aimed at escalating the elimination of disadvantaged sections from schools. The slight increase in the PM-POSHAN scheme (which includes the mid-day meal program) is being praised by many sections, as it rises from ₹11,600 crore in the 2023 budget allocation to ₹12,467.39 crore in the 2024-25 budget. However, this is still a reduced amount compared to the 2022 allocation of ₹12,680.97 crore, which means students starving in schools or dropping out has not become a priority for the government. Thus, it cannot be described as an actual increase. Another example is that the total allocation for development heads has also been reduced by almost 35%. It is estimated that over 70 million children in India complete primary school without foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Inadequate school infrastructure contributes significantly to these poor learning outcomes. A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development revealed that nearly 44% of government schools lack access to electricity. Hence, ensuring a common school system of public education and free, compulsory quality education is a basic responsibility of the government, but the budget clearly states that it is not a priority for the BJP-led Union government.
Gifting Higher Education to Corporates
In this budget, the BJP-led Union government has focused on unleashing an attack against common students in higher education. They have cut down almost all possible schemes that may support students pursuing higher education. At a headline glance, the Department of Higher Education received an allocation of ₹47,619.77 crore, marking an increase of ₹3,525.15 crore, which is 7.99% compared with the previous year’s budget estimate (3.49% when considering inflation). This allocation is also 16.81% lower than the revised estimate of ₹57,244.48 crore for 2023-24.
The drastic reduction in funding for the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the Union Budget 2024-25, which saw a cut of nearly 61% from ₹6,409 crore to ₹2,500 crore, is poised to have severe implications for research initiatives in Indian universities. This drastic decrease raises concerns about the future of higher education and research in the country. With the funding slashed, institutions are likely to face severe constraints in their ability to run the system. This will hinder not only the initiation of new research but also ongoing projects, particularly in fields requiring substantial financial backing. Higher education institutes require robust infrastructure, including laboratories, libraries, and access to paid journals. The budget cuts will likely lead to reduced investments in these essential facilities, making it challenging for universities to support high-quality research activities.
The cuts will force universities to increasingly rely on self-financing models, including tuition fees and private donations, to fund master’s and research initiatives. This shift could create a disparity, where only institutions with financially sound students can afford to maintain robust research programs. As a result, institutions serving economically disadvantaged students will further struggle to keep up, widening the educational gap.
Public and private institutions continue to hike their fees by up to 30% every year. It is quite clear that fee hikes at the university level are meant to repay loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) or find funds to run the university. Additionally, the cost of equipment for scientific research and laboratories has increased manyfold. Custom duties for lab chemicals have jumped from 10% to 150%. Chemicals worth ₹10,000 now cost ₹25,000, plus GST. Last year, the GST on equipment and chemicals was increased from 5% to 18%.
The reduction in UGC funding is expected to disproportionately affect students from lower-income backgrounds. As institutions turn to self-financing, tuition fees will rise significantly, making higher education less accessible for these students. Progressive student movements in our country have been raising concerns that such financial barriers could force many students to discontinue their studies, particularly those who depend on scholarships and government support.
The BJP-led government is keen on destroying social sciences studies and research in India through various political, administrative, and financial interventions. To accelerate this, support to institutes of excellence in social sciences and humanities has faced a decrease. But not limited to social sciences, the IITs, IIMs, and IIITs are also facing significant fund cuts from this year’s budget allocation for the Ministry of Education. Continuing the withdrawal of support for education, the internationalization of institutes, the Study in India scheme, and support to educational institutes outside India have also faced drastic fund cuts.
However, two types of funding in higher education have seen increases: one is the increase in funding for central universities, and another is the funding for deemed-to-be universities supported by the government. Even though inadequate, an increase in central university funding is a welcome step. But there must be close scrutiny on how and which sections will benefit from this increase. The increase in funding for deemed-to-be universities is nominal or reflects a reduction when considering the Union government’s takeover of new institutes under this section since last year.
Looking at another example, scholarships for college and university students and the Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir have been merged into the PM-USP scheme. This scheme also includes an interest subsidy during the moratorium period on educational loans taken by students. Announcing a round amount for many schemes clubbed together is a tactic that hides the actual reduction. Another interesting example is the increase in the total allocation for Central Sector Schemes/Projects for Higher Education from ₹1,540.27 crore to ₹1,813.27 crore. But the reality is that the budget has reduced or not increased funds for all heads under the umbrella, except for World Class Institutions, which saw an increase from ₹1,300 crore to ₹1,800 crore. This is for just ten institutions from the public and private sectors that the government wants to focus on. Once again, this is an example of attempts to create fancy headlines but in reality, help private players take over.
Elimination of the Socially and Financially Backward Sections from Education
Looking at the budget allocation for education from various ministries, there are fund cuts everywhere. If a student from SC, OBC, EBC, or DNT sections wants to pursue education, their post-matric scholarships are facing fund cuts and will receive lesser amounts. For those who want to do research in India, National Fellowships for SC, ST, and OBC, and for those pursuing education abroad, National Overseas Fellowships for SC, ST, and loan interest subsidies for OBC students’ overseas studies have altogether seen significant fund cuts.
The PM Girls Hostel scheme is facing an 80% cut from last year, and the Boys and Girls Hostel scheme under the PM Yasasvi umbrella is also reduced. This means the BJP government is determined to make sure that students dependent on hostels are suffering or are indirectly asked to drop out of education. Looking at the PWD sections, not only are scholarships for PWD students reduced, but support to national institutes for PWD is also insensitively reduced.
Given the lack of adequate support for infrastructure for research and innovation, how does the support for schemes open to all stand? The PM Research Fellowship has been drastically reduced, making less support available for outstanding researchers in national and premier institutes in India. Now, considering student entrepreneurs, the funding for the Startup India initiative is also reduced.
One Crore Internships- Like Seriously?
One of the biggest headlines after the budget was the dramatic announcement of internships. Over five years, one crore students will receive one- to two-year internships in 500 top companies with a ₹5,000 per month stipend from the government and ₹6,000 from the companies. In this context, one must recall recent past experiences. For example, BJP-led governments under Modi promised the creation of 2 crore jobs per year. This implies that at least 20 crore jobs should have been created in the past ten years. But reality speaks otherwise; unemployment is skyrocketing, and the ILO report states that youngsters account for 83% of our country’s unemployed workforce. In the eleventh year of BJP rule, they now focus more on announcing internships rather than job creation in the past. In layman’s terms, the new announcement means 2 million internships per year—4000 interns per company per year. Creating this many new openings is herculean and unlikely to be achieved. The government may start counting existing internships as part of the new announcement, which might help them provide some numbers for future propaganda.
Secondly, let’s assume it is ideally implemented. If so, companies will be in a position to get a huge number of underpaid workers without labor law protection or unions to resist exploitation. The government will be paying half the nominal stipend to the workforce, which may drive corporates to not recruit certain sections of employees, especially non-managerial positions. The immediate effect will be on graduates—they will be less required since a large number of interns are available to work without security. This means a government is paying and encouraging corporates to create fewer employment openings for graduates. This is nothing but a more diluted Agniveer scheme from a different ministry.
In summary, based on our experiences, it is unlikely to be implemented as announced and could remain a fancy headline. But it creates a threat to job opportunities and security after graduation.
One major discussion that may arise is the lack of adequate skills earned by students at their graduation. Many voices from the job market are flagging this issue. This is the pretended context that the ruling government keeps talking about regarding skill development and job opportunities for youngsters. If students aren’t being skilled at universities, what is the actual solution? It certainly is not providing some crash courses to mold them for the short term. It must be strengthening the universities and increasing support to educational spaces and their facilities; there are no shortcuts.
In a nutshell, with the Union Budget 2024-25, whether you are studying in India or abroad, the government is attacking you. If you are a student from a struggling background or someone facing discrimination in accessing education, the people in power have decided to further haunt you. If you want admission in a good educational institution, all ways are paved to increase fees, making it a challenge to join. If you seek to conduct intense research, support is minimal; if you need to initiate a startup, support is nominal; and finally, if you need a job after education, there is less security and opportunity now. The government is keen on diverting attention from the real issues and needs of students. With the state’s increased withdrawal, the burden of running universities and even paying faculty and staff is shifting to the shoulders of the students. The largest stakeholder of education has become the primary victim of the government’s anti-people policies. The Union Budget presented by the BJP-led government is atrocious and must be opposed.
–Ramadas Prini Sivanandan is a member of the Central Executive Committee of the SFI, and a research scholar in Developement Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The author relied on the Union Budget 2024-25, The Status of Education 2022 published by the SFI CEC, the response of the Students’ Federation of India to the Union Budget, and various government and news reports to prepare this note.