Bihar FM alleges Centre’s fund cut for SSA, BJP says state’s ploy to hide mess

Citing the example of Centre’s flagship Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), Choudhary said the scheme involves fund sharing pattern of 60:40 between the centre and the state government, but there was a a huge shortfall in the central share in the last fiscal.

Bihar’s finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Friday said the Centre was “deliberately trying to create a financial crisis in the state”.

Bihar’s finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary (HT file)

Citing the example of Centre’s flagship Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), Choudhary said the scheme involves fund sharing pattern of 60:40 between the centre and the state government, but there was a a huge shortfall in the central share in the last fiscal.

“In 2021-22, Bihar spent around ₹14,225 crore under the scheme. The Centre’s contribution should be ₹8,535 crore against the state share of ₹5,690 crore. However, the Centre released just ₹3,556 crore. As a result, the state government had to spend ₹10,669 crore to meet the shortfall,” he said.

While there is no cap on money a state can spend under the scheme, estimates are presented at the beginning of a fiscal before the project approval board, which makes a realistic assessment on the basis of consultations.

It’s not immediately clear what was the amount approved by the board for the fiscal 2021-22.

Choudhary said the expenditure could not be put on hold since the salary of school teachers had to be paid.

“In the current fiscal (2022-23), no fund has been received so far from the Centre under the head, while the state government has already released ₹3,777 crore for timely salary payment to teachers,” he said.

The minister said he had also flagged the issue in May as Bihar’s education minister in course of his meeting with the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Patna. “Bihar people are watching and understanding this. Bihar needs more support as it requires more teachers and headmasters. The state has to struggle even for its genuine claims,” said Choudhary, who was the education minister in the previous NDA government till August 10.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had last year given its approval for continuation of the revised Samagra Shiksha Scheme for a period of five years, i.e., from 2021-22 to 2025-26, with a total financial outlay of ₹2,94,283.04 crore, which includes Central share of ₹1,85,398.32 crore.

However, there has always been a difference between the funds approved and actual funds released.

While the union education minister wasn’t immediately available for comment, Bihar BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said the Centre was giving enough to the state through increased devolution and the state government should stop the blame game to hide the mess it has created in the field of school education. “SSA is a scheme to help the state governments tone up the sector and Narendra Modi has extended the scheme till 2026. If there is any delay, there is no need to make an issue of it, as whatever is due will arrive. The Modi government has been always liberal towards Bihar,” he said.