New Delhi: Ending the controversy over sharing
of funds and paving the way for implementing the historic
Right To Education (RTE) law, the government has fixed the
funds sharing pattern at 65 to 35 between the Centre and the
states for the next five years.
There will be a requirement of Rs 2.31 lakh crore in the
next five years for implementing the new act which makes
education a fundamental right of every child.
The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) under Finance
Ministry has agreed to the fund sharing formula keeping in
view demands of states for higher assistance from the Centre
to implement the Act which has come into force from April one
this year.
The EFC gave its clearance yesterday, a HRD Ministry
official said. The clearance came after HRD Minister Kapil
Sibal met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and explained the
concerns of the states on the issue.
The Finance Commission has already given Rs 24,000 crore
to the states for implementing the Act. If this money is
included under the Central assistance, the Central share could
go up to 68 per cent, the official said.
States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had even demanded full
funding from the Centre for implementation of the law. Most of
the states had demanded 90 per cent funding by the Centre for
this Act.
PTI
