REPORT NO. 256 PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIXTH REPORT Demands for Grants 2013-14 (Demand No. 58) of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 3rd May, 2013) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 3rd May, 2013) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi May, 2013/Vaisakha, 1935 (Saka) Website:http://rajyasabha.nic.in E-mail:[email protected] Hindi version of this publication is also available PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIXTH REPORT Demands for Grants 2013-14 (Demand No. 58) of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 3rd May, 2013) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 3rd May, 2013) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi May, 2013/Vaisakha, 1935 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGES 1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ......................................................................................... (i)-(ii) 2. PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. (iii) 3. ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... (iv) 4. REPORT .................................................................................................................................. 1—33 5. OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE — AT A GLANCE ........................ 34—41 6. MINUTES ................................................................................................................................. 43—47 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Constituted w.e.f. 31st August, 2012) 1. Shri Oscar Fernandes — Chairman RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri Rama Chandra Khuntia 3. Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar 4. Shri Avinash Rai Khanna 5. Shri Tarun Vijay 6. Shri Derek O’ Brien 7. Chaudhary Munavver Saleem 8. Dr. Janardhan Waghmare 9. Shri Baishnab Parida 10. Shri N. Balaganga LOK SABHA 11. Shri Suresh Angadi 12. Shri P.K. Biju 13. Shri Jeetendra Singh Bundela 14. Shri Sivasami C. 15. Shrimati Helen Davidson *16. Shrimati Deepa Dasmunshi @17. Shri Mahadev Singh Khandela 18. Dr. Charles Dias 19. Shri Kapil Muni Karwariya 20. Shri Virender Kashyap 21. Shri N. Peethambara Kurup 22. Shri Prasanta Kumar Majumdar 23. Shri Raghuvir Singh Meena 24. Capt. Jai Naraian Prasad Nishad 25. Shri Sis Ram Ola 26. Shri M.K. Raghavan 27. Shri K. Chandrashekar Rao 28. Shri M.I. Shanavas 29. Shri Balkrishna K. Shukla 30. Shri Bhoopendra Singh 31. Shri Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh 32. Shri Manicka Tagore * Shrimati Deepa Dasmunshi was elevated to Union Minister of State, Urban Development on 28.10.2012. @ Nominated as a Member of the Committee w.e.f. 09.01.2013. (i) (ii) SECRETARIAT Shrimati Vandana Garg, Additional Secretary Shri N.S. Walia, Director Shri Arun Sharma, Joint Director Shrimati Himanshi Arya, Assistant Director Shrimati Harshita Shankar, Assistant Director PREFACE I, the Chairman of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, having been authorized by the Committee to present the Report on its behalf, do hereby present this Two Hundred Fifty-sixth Report of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (Demand No.58) of the Department of Higher Education for the year 2013-14. 2. The Committee considered the various documents and relevant papers received from the Department of Higher Education and also heard the Secretary and other Officials of that Department on the said Demands for Grants in its meeting held on 2nd April, 2013. 3. The Committee considered the Draft Report and adopted the same in its meeting held on 30th April, 2013. OSCAR FERNANDES NEW DELHI; Chairman, April 30, 2013 Department-related Parliamentary Vaisakha 10, 1935 (Saka) Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (iii) ABBREVIATIONS 1 OBCs – Other Backward Classes 2. GER – Gross Enrolment Ratio 3. IIMs – Indian Institute of Management 4. IISERs – Indian Institute of Science Education and Research 5. NITs – National Institute of Technology 6. SC/ST – Scheduled Cast/Scheduled Tribes 7. UGC – University Grant Commission 8. ICT – Information and Communication Technology 9. NITTRs – National Institute of Technical Teacher’s Training and Research 10. NER – North Eastern Region 11. NE – North East 12. UG/PG – Under Graduate/Post Graduate 13. NAAC – National Assessment and Accreditation Council 14. EBDs – Educationally Backward Districts 15. NUEPA – National University of Educationally Planning and Administration 16. CABE – Central Advisory Board of Education 17. AICTE – All India Council for Technical Education 18. NET/SET – National Eligibility Test/State Eligibility Test 19. IITs – Indian Institute of Technology 20. IIITs – Indian Institute of Information Technology 21. RE – Revised Estimate 22. BE – Budget Expenditure 23. NPA – Non Performing Asset (iv) 1 REPORT I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The main functions of the Department of Higher Education are laying down of National Policy on Education, and overseeing its implementation, planned development, including expansion of access and qualitative improvement in University and Higher and Technical Education with special attention to disadvantaged groups i.e. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, Girls, Minorities and Disabled, development of all Indian Languages, scholarships to deserving students, Promotion of Books and administration of the Copyright Act. There are three main statutory bodies under the Department of Higher Education, Universities Grants Commission for co-ordination, determination and maintenance of standards in higher education, All India Council of Technical Education—for planning and co-ordinated development of technical education system throughout the country, Distance Education Council for promotion of Open University and Distance Education and for co-ordination and determination of standards of teaching, evaluation and research in such systems. 1.2 The Secretary, in his presentation before the Committee on the 2nd April, 2013 dwelt upon the key strategies of the Twelfth Plan. The Secretary submitted that the thrust of the Twelfth Plan was the continued focus on the three Es of expansion, equity and excellence, greater emphasis on improving quality of higher education, and special focus on marginalized and disadvantaged groups. Key strategies of the Plan were strengthening of the initiatives undertaken during the Eleventh Plan period, strengthening of the State Institutions, faculty development, strengthening research and innovation in Basic Sciences and Social Sciences, Skill Building and Vocational Education, international exchanges and globalization and social responsibility and community engagement. The Secretary drew the attention of the Committee to the following new initiatives in the Plan 2013-14:– • National Initiative for Quality Higher Education in Indian Languages. • National Initiative on inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Higher Education. • National initiative to Foster Social Responsibility including creation of an alliance for community engagement. • Initiative on Sports and Wellness. • Strengthening Governance and Accreditation. • Web-based Higher Education Data Management system. • Setting up Institutes of Academic Leadership 1.3 The Secretary apprised the Committee that out of the three pillars of expansion, equity and excellence of the edifice of higher education, with regard to achievement of 30 per cent of GER by 2020, as per a survey of higher education, only 18.1 per cent GER had been reached. It was anticipated that by 2012, it would be 25 per cent and 30 per cent by 2020. This was made possible due to paradigm shift in the funding of higher education during the Eleventh Plan period. The budget for higher education was increased nine times when compared to the Tenth Plan allocation. During this period, sixteen new Central Universities and fourteen world class Universities were established, nine new IITs came up and seven new IIMs, five new IISERs and ten new NITs were set up. The Secretary, however, mentioned that the two areas of concern which persisted were that of equity and excellence. Both from gender point of view and in the content of SC/ST, much 2 needed to be achieved, in spite of some progress being made. In the context of excellence, Committee’s attention was drawn to the proposed legislation on accreditation and UGC regulations. Faculty shortage was another area of major concern. II. BUDGETARY ALLOCATION 2.1 The Committee observes that against the Eleventh Plan Outlay of `84,943.00 crore, allocations made at the BE stage were almost half of the Plan Outlay, i.e. `47,786.00 crore. This BE allocation had also to be brought down to `40,627.85 crore and the utilization figures at the end of the Plan period were only `39,646.82 crore. The Committee finds that maximum reductions took place in the following sectors with expenditure not reaching even that level: (` in crores) Scheme BE RE Actual Expenditure Distance Learning, Scholarship and ICT 4739.00 2977.68 2256.19 University and Higher Education 21,297.90 19,230.28 19,236.11 Technical Education 20,713.00 17,411.42 17,247.51 2.2 The Committee takes not of the fact that Twelfth Plan Outlay of `1,10,700.00 crore is at an enhanced level when compared with Eleventh Plan Outlay of `84,943.00 crore.