INTRODUCTORY
During the period under report, Prof. S. Nurul Hasan continued as Minister for Education and Social Welfare and Prof. D. P. Yadav as Deputy Minister. Sri Arvind Netam took over as Deputy Minister in February, 1973 in place of Shri K. S. Ramaswami, who resigned in November, 1972.
Budget
Department of Education The total Budget provision for 1972-73, 1973-74 for the Department of Education including the provision made in the demands for grants of the Ministry of. Finance is as under:
(Rupees in lakhs)
Particulars Budget Revised Budget
1972-73 1972-73 1973-74
Secretariat of the Department of
Education and other Revenue
Expenditure 244.04 235.39 265.78
Provision for General Education and Ex-
pansion of Primary Education
(employment of unemployed
educated personnel) 12382.39 13580.94 12258.03
Total 12626.43 13816.33 12523,81
The major portion under 'Secretariat and other Revenue Expenditure' is for general administration, that is maintenance of non-Plan establishment and contributions to UNESCO. The shortfall in the revised estimates is due mainly to an intensive drive for economising in non-Plan expenditure. The excess in the Budget Estimates for 1973-74 is because of increase in contributions to UNESCO (Rs. 24 lakhs additional).
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The provision under General Education is for schemes and programmes both non-Plan and Plan. This includes a provision of over Rs. 29 crores for special development schemes, Expansion of Primary Education, Employment of Educated un-employed persons. The increase in R.E. vis-a-Vis B.E. 1972-73 is primarily due to the following reasons
(a) A loan of Rs. 4 crores to the Government of Kerala for revision of salary scales of teachers at higher edu- cation level.
(b) Rs. 3.86 crores incidental charges by way of customs duty etc., for import of gift paper being supplied by the Government of Sweden.
(c) Rs. 2.00 crores for excess requirements of funds for UGC.
The shortfall in B.E. 1973-74 vis-a-vis B.E. 1972-73 is because the items which 'accounted for the increase in R.E. 1972-73 do not recur in 1973-74.
The B.E. 1973-74 figures are having to be kept down more or less to the R.E. 1972-73 level because of constraint of resources. There is in fact an inevitable increase for non-Plan expenditure and a corresponding shortfall in Plan expenditure.
Department of Culture The budget provision for 1972-73 and 1973-74 for the Department of Culture including the provision in the demands for grants of the Ministry of Finance is as under:
(Rupees in lakhs)
Particulars Budget Revised Budget
1972-73 1972-73 1973-74
Department of Culture 653.49 629.17 671.19
Archaeology 244.22 231.44 276.89
Total 897.71860.61 947.89
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The provision under the 'Department of Culture' is for general administration of the department and for miscellaneous schemes and programmes under Culture including museums, libraries, cultural academies and Modern Indian Languages.
The shortfall in the revised estimates (Rs. 24 lakhs) is due partly to a drive for effecting economy in non-Plan expenditure and partly due to lower requirements of funds for certain programmes for Book Production in regional languages at University level, which were in the developmental stage.
The increase in B.E. 1973-74 vis-a-vis R E. 1972-73 (Rs. 42 lakhs) is due partly to normal increase in non-Plan expenditure and partly due to an increase in provision for production of books in regional languages at University level. Owing to constraint of resources the B.E. 1973-74 does not reflect any substantial increase over 1972-73 provision.
The provision under Archaeology is for the maintenance of archaeological monuments, explorations and excavations and special repairs. It is mostly normal maintenance provision. The shortfall in R.E. (Rs. 13 lakhs) 1972-73 is mainly owing to a drive for effecting economy in non-Plan expenditure. The excess in B.E. 1973-74 vis-a-vis R.E. 1972-73 (Rs. 45 lakhs) is partly due to, normal increase in maintenance expenditure and partly for conservation of ancient and special repairs.
Scheme for Providing Employment to the Educated Unemployed
Expansion of Elementary Education Under this Central Scheme which was launched in the later part of 1971-72 and continued during 1972-73, Government of India have assisted the State Governments and U.T. administrations in the field of elementary education on a hundred per cent basis by providing 60,000 teachers with corresponding inspectors, classrooms, provision of free textbooks, mid-day meals etc. during 1971-72 and 1972-73. An additional 30,000 teachers with corresponding other assistance is likely to be provided during 1973-74.
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Educational Technology Project Under this project an educational technology centre is being set up in Delhi. In addition to the development of curriculum, preparation of basic scripts for films, radio and television lessons and other programmes, it will also train personnel to produce these programmes and 16 mm teaching films. Educational technology cells are being set up in various States in a phased manner. These cells will assist in producing instructional material and the training programmes of certain categories of personnel required for the introduction of educational technology in schools. Details about these and other projects are narrated in Chapter II.
Higher Education A revised Bill for the establishment of a Central University with its headquarters in Shillong is expected to be introduced in Parliament shortly. The University will meet the needs of the North- Eastern Region in higher education.
The University Grants Commission, which has been reconstituted in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Amendment) Act, 1972, maintained its tempo of activity and programmes initiated earlier for strengthening of research and improvement of standards in universities were further developed. Details about these and the recently set up Indian Council of Historical Research and other Institutions are given in the relevant chapters of the Report.
Technical Education Quality improvement has been the keynote in the programmes of technical education. The response to programmes designed to improve the professional competence of serving teachers, particularly those leading to Masters or Doctoral Degree has been very satisfactory.
Programmes of Sandwich courses meant to improve the practical content in degree and diploma courses have been extended to a larger number of institutions in 1972-73. On the basis of the conclusions reached through discussions with State
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Governments, a plan of action has been formulated to implement the major recommendations of the Expert Committee set up by the All India Council for Technical Education towards the reorganisation of polytechnic education.
In addition to assisting the existing postgraduate courses, the Central Government has approved grants to more institutes to enable them to introduce postgraduate courses in accordance with the recommendations of the Board of Postgraduate Engineering Education and Research.
The Expert Committee set up following the introduction of the Architects Act 1972 has started its work of screening architectural qualifications.
Book Promotion India participated in the International Book Year celebrations, following the UNESCO declaration of the year 1972 as International Book Year. The National Book Trust organised the World Book Fair as part of the celebrations of the International Book Year.
A liberal policy in respect of the import of books, journals, magazines, children's literature and other educational material is being followed as it is in the interest of education and will enable a free flow of reading material into the country. This policy, however, forbids the import of undesirable types of books, and also ensures that the import of books does not hamper the development of indigenous books.
Adult Education Vigorous measures have been taken during the period under report to train and orient key-level personnel, to produce. problem oriented reading materials and to initiate other measures to carry out functional literacy programmes.
Assistance to voluntary, organisations working in the field of adult education continued to be given.
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To provide facilities for further education to industrial wor- kers, Workers' Social Education Institutes are to be set up in cities having a large concentration of labour population. There are already 2 such institutes functioning at Indore and Nagpur. They strive to stimulate a desire for knowledge among the workers and to arouse in them a sense of social and civic responsibility, in addition to affording them facilities for wholesome recreation.
Youth WelfareA new development in this field is the decision to establish 100 Nehru Yuvak Kendras all over the country in order to mobilise youth and non-student youth in constructive nation building activity. Eventually it is the intention to provide each district with a Kendra.
In order to create a better understanding of youth problem services, the Ministry is exploring the possibilities of encouraging exchange of information with other developing countries.
A mass programme of physical education 'Bharatiyam' was presented through national and State level mass youth rallies during the year. The President inaugurated the national rally which included a two-hour programme of physical exercises, folk dances, group singing, etc., in which 5000 youth participated.
Among other major programmes in this field were the development of physical facilities in the universities, provision of coaches, organisation of coaching camps, award of sports talent search scholarships, and the establishment of rural sports centres.
UNESCO Programmes India was represented at the 17th General Conference of UNESCO held at Paris during the latter half of 1972. Prof. S. Nurul Hassan, Leader of the Indian Delegation, was elected as one of the fifteen Vice-Presidents. India was re-elected to the
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Executive Board of UNESCO and Shri G. Parthasarathy, Vice-Chancellor of the Jawahar Lal Nehru University was elected as Member for a term of 4 years'. India was elected to the Legal Committee, Steering Committee of the UNISIST, Co-ordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Hiospbere and the Co-operating Council of the International Hydrological Decade.
During the period under report, all the important UNESCO programmes of the Indian National Commission were continued. Change were also made to streamline the functioning of the Indian National Commission.
Languages The Government are following, in collaboration with State Governments, a programme of coordinated development of Hindi and other Indian languages, including Sanskrit.
The Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, continued to develop its programmes for bringing together all the research and literary output of various linguistic streams to a common head
All the programmes initiated in the earlier years in the field of languages were continued during the period under report.
Cultural Affairs An Indo-Bangladesh Cultural Agreement was signed in Dacca on December, 30, 1972. This provides for cooperation between the two countries in the realm of culture, art and education, including academic activity in the fields of science and technology. Cultural Agreements were also signed with the G.D.R. and Mauritius during the year. Proposals for concluding cultural agreements with 20 countries are under negotiation.
Cultural delegations from various countries continued to visit India and correspondingly several delegations from India were sent to various countries abroad.
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The Committee appointed under the chairmanship of Justice G. D. Khosla to review the working of the three National Academies submitted its report during the year.
The museums and the libraries under the administrative control of the Ministry continued to carry on their usual programmes during the period under report.
Memorial Programmes Memorial programmes and centenary celebrations undertaken by the Ministry in the earlier years were continued during the period under report. Following the bi-centenary celebrations of Raja Rammohun Roy in May, 1972, the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation came into being with the object of strengthening and promoting a country-wide library service.
As part of the celebrations of the 25th Anniversary of India's Independence, the Ministry has drawn up a Scheme to establish Bharat Bhavans, in Delhi as well as in the State Capitals. To demonstrate the concept of Unity amidst diversity, of Indian culture, a cultural festival of classical music, dance, drama and mass songs was organised in Delhi early this year and it was inaugurated by the Vice-President of India.
It is proposed to set up a gallery depicting photographs and portraits of eminent personalities who have played a leading role in the country's development, particularly in its struggle for freedom during the last 200 years.
The National Integration Samithies carried out special programmes during the period under report in connection with the 25th Anniversary of India's Independence.
PART ONE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION