REPORT NO. 309 PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT THREE HUNDRED NINTH REPORT Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Three Hundred Fifth Report on the Demands For Grants 2018-19 of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 11th February, 2019) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 11th February, 2019) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi February, 2019/Magha, 1940 (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 THREE HUNDRED NINTH REPORT Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Three Hundred Fifth Report on the Demands For Grants 2018-19 of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 11th February, 2019) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 11th February, 2019) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi February, 2019/Magha, 1940 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGES 1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE............................................................................ (i)-(ii) 2. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... (iii) 3. ACRONYMS...................................................................................................... (iv) 4. REPORT................................................................................................................ 1-27 Chapter : I Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government...................................................................................... 1-5 Chapter : II Observations/Recommendations which the Committee does not desire to pursue in view of the Government's replies.................................... 6-17 Chapter : III Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee....................... 18-24 Chapter : IV Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Govermnent is still awaited................................................................ 25 5. OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS—AT A GLANCE........................................................ 26-27 6. MINUTES.............................................................................................................. 29-32 7. ANNEXURES........................................................................................................... 33-39 DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Constituted w.e.f. 1st September, 2018) 1. Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya — Chairman RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri Partap Singh Bajwa 3. Shrimati Vandana Chavan 4. Prof. Jogen Chowdhury 5. Prof. M.V. Rajeev Gowda 6. Shri Anubhav Mohanty 7. Shri Vishambhar Prasad Nishad 8. Dr. Sasikala Pushpa Ramaswamy 9. Dr. Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe 10. Shri Gopal Narayan Singh LOK SABHA 1l. Shrimati Santosh Ahlawat 12. Shri Bijoy Chandra Barman 13. Shri Nihal Chand Chauhan 14. Ms. Bhawana Gawali (Patil) 15. Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste 16. Shrimati Geetha Kothapalli 17. Shri Bhairon Prasad Mishra 18. Shri Ramachandran Mullappally 19. Shri Hari Om Pandey 20. Dr. Bhagirath Prasad 21 Shri N.K. Premachandran 22. Shri Krishnan Narayanaswamy Ramachandran 23. Shri Sumedhanand Saraswati 24. *Shri V.S. Ugrappa * Nominated to the Committee w.e.f. 17th January, 2019. (i) 25. Dr. Nepal Singh 26. Dr. Prabhas Kumar Singh 27. Shri Satya Pal Singh 28. Shrimati Neelam Sonker 29. Shri P.R. Sundaram 30. Shrimati P.K. Sreemathi Teacher 31. Shrimati Tabassum Begum SECRETARIAT Shri K.P. Singh, Joint Secretary Shri Rajiva Srivastava, Director Shri Vinay Shankar Singh, Additional Director Shrimati Himanshi Arya, Under Secretary Shri K. Sudhir Kumar, Research Officer Shri Mohit Misra, Committee Officer Shrimati Suman Khurana, Committee Officer (ii) INTRODUCTION I, the Chairman of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, having been authorised by the Committee to present the Report on its behalf, do hereby present this Three Hundred Ninth Report of the Committee on the Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Three Hundred Fifth Report on the Demands For Grants (2018-19) of the Department of School Education and Literacy. The Action Taken Notes were received from the Department of School Education and Literacy on 17th January, 2019. 2. Three Hundred Fifth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development was presented to Rajya Sabha on 9th March, 2018 and simultaneously laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 9th March, 2018. Replies of the Government to the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Report were considered by the Committee at its meeting held on the 8th February, 2019. 3. The Committee considered the Draft Report and adopted the same in its meeting held on 8th February, 2019. NEW DELHI; DR. SATYANARAYAN JATIYA 8th February, 2019 Chairman, Magha 19, 1940 (Saka) Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, Rajya Sabha. (iii) ACRONYMS PSK : Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK) RTE : Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education KGBV : Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidalayas SSA : Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan RMSA : Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) SRC : State Report Cards DRC : District Report Cards NAS : National Achievement Survey NVS : Navodaya Vidalya Samiti MDM : Mid Day Meal Scheme CCEA : Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs TE : Teacher Education NE : North Eastern States SPEMM : Scheme for providing education to minorities/madarsa JNV : Jawaharlal Nehru Vidalayas IHL : Institute of Higher learning SAP : Swachta Action Plan GBS : Gross Budgetary Support (iv) REPORT The Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development deals with the action taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in its 305th Report on the Demands for Grants 2018-19 of the Department of School Education and literacy, which was presented to the Rajya Sabha and laid on the table of Lok Sabha on 9th March, 2018. 2. The Action Taken Notes in respect of Observations/Recommendations contained in above mentioned Report were received from the Department of School Education & literacy vide their communication dated 17th January, 2019. These have been categorized as follows. Chapter I : Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government : Paras-2.6, 2.13, 3.5, 3.18, 3.25, 3.26, 6.7 TOTAL- 7 Chapter II : Observations/Recommendations which the Committee does not desire to pursue in view of Government's replies.: Paras- 2.4, 2.7, 3.3, 3.15, 3.29, 3.39, 3.45, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.20, 5.22, 5.24, 5.25, 6.9, 6.10, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.26, TOTAL- 20 Chapter III : Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee.: Paras-2.2, 3.12, 3.13, 3.32, 3.33, 4.15, 4.19, 5.23, 5.26, 6.8 TOTAL- 10 Chapter IV : Observations/Recommendations in respect of which final replies of the Government are still awaited. Paras- Nil TOTAL- Nil 2 CHAPTER-I OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT BUDGETARY ALLOCATION Observation/Recommendation 1. From the details, it emerges that the actual expenditure of the Department during 2017-18 was slightly lower as compared to the actual expenditure of 2016-17. The Committee hopes that the Department would spend the remaining amount before the end of the current Financial Year in judicious and balanced manner. (Para 2.6) Action Taken The releases under the three Schemes of SSA, RMSA and TE in 2017-18 are as under: (` in Crore) 2017-18 BE RE (Final Grant) Releases % of Releases against RE SSA 23500 23593.86 23524.94 99.7 RMSA 3830 4036.54 4033.44 99.9 TE 480 480 476.56 99.3 TOTAL 27810 28110.4 28034.94 99.7 PRARAMBHIK SHIKSHA KOSH (PSK) Observation/Recommendation 2. The Committee appreciates the efforts made by the Government and the Department to generate sufficient resources for funding the projects aimed at spreading education in different parts of the country including the remote and inaccessible parts. However, the Committee notes that Primary Education Cess collected from the FY 2004-05 to 2016-17 is Rs 1,92,770.02 crore while only Rs 1,79,656.30 crore had been spent in the corresponding period. This indicates that Rs 13,113.72 crore which is roughly 6.80% of the total amount has not being utilized. The Committee would like to take this opportunity to impress upon the Department to ensure that the balance amount is utilized effectively. The Committee may also be informed about the steps taken in this regard in the Action Taken Notes. (Para 2.13) Action Taken The funds for meeting the Budgetary Expenditure of various Schemes of the Department of School Education & Literacy (including PSK) are provided by Ministry of Finance. This would include both the funds i.e. Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) and Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK). The funds of PSK are specifically spent on SSA and MDM. Over the years, the Department has received both GBS and PSK for these Schemes and spent accordingly, which clearly shows that the Government had spent more 2