Background

CivicDataLab (CDL) is partnering with HAQ: Centre for Child Rights (HAQ: CRC) in analysing Uttar Pradesh Fiscal Data to strengthen the financial accountability towards Girl Education in the state.

The project’s objective is to examine and highlight the trend of financing for child education with specific focus on girls’ education in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The project also intends to build the collective voices of local CSOs to be able to advocate for greater budget transparency in allocation and expenditure for education related programmes by putting the budget data in public domain in simplified forms. The outcomes of the proposed project is likely to improve the implementation of education related schemes in the selected states thereby benefiting all the children who are part of the schooling system.

To achieve the same, we are procuring data from the Koshvani platform, FY 2017-18 onwards. Koshvani is Uttar Pradesh’s financial activities digital platform containing up to date information about the state budget and expenditure down to a DDO level. We are using this data to create a composite definition of education expenditure for the state of Uttar Pradesh and track the progress over the years. You can follow our progress on the work here.

Contents

• Uttar Pradesh Fiscal Data Overview

• Demand of Grants Overview

• Major Head and Schemes

• Revised Scope of Education

• Key Findings and Next Steps

Fiscal Data Overview

Findings (1)

Observations made in the overall state budget trends in FY 2020-21 over last 4 FYs.

• Total Budgetary Provisions for FY 2020-21 ₹5,444,542 crore was a 3.36% increase over the previous FY.

• The total allotment against the Budgeted Provisions is ~50-60% of the amount, but during the pandemic year of FY 2020-21 the allotments dropped to 48.14%

• Total Expenditure at the end of any FY ranges between ~115-125% of allotments made over the year.

Note: The observations above do not include Grant IDs PAC and REC from the platform.

Grant Wise Budgetary Provisions

Findings (2)

Observations made about the Grants constituting the fiscal daata for the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The followings Grants were identified to be associated with the Department of Education .

Education Related Grants

Findings (3)

Observations made in the overall state budget trends in FY 2020-21 over last 4 FYs.

• The education budget allocation primarily flows through the Department of Education, with Primary Education grant amounting to ₹55,065 crore and Secondary Education grant amounting to ₹12,988 crore budget estimated for FY 2020–21.

• The Primary Education (071) accounts for anything between ~75-80% of Department of Education related Budget Provisions.

• Secondary Education (072) accounts for ~15% and SCERT (075) accounts for ~5% of Budgetary Provisions.

Note: As the project aims to track the spending towards Girl Child Education, only children below the age of 18 are considered in scope. Hence, Grant # 073 will be removed from the scope from the scope.

Education Grants Breakdown

Findings (4)

Under the Grant #s shortlisted above, 071, 072 and 075 the following Major Heads were available.

A large proportion of all the funds related to Education in Uttar Pradesh flows through the General Education (2202) Major Head across all shortlisted Grants.

2202 - General Education

Major Head 2202 spread across grants even outside the Department of Education.

Findings (5)

Obsevations around Major Accounting Heads for education.

• Major Head 2202 - General Education can be tracked across 10 different Grants for the state of Utar Pradesh.

• The General Education expenditure also flows through Grants of Language Department, Department of Social Welfare and Administrative Reforms Department

• A deeper analysis to create a definition of Education related expenditure is required.

Note: The Controller General of Accounts, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finace mandates the use of same Major and Minor Heads of Accounts across all Union and State expenditures. Hence it becomes critical to track the relevant Major Heads accross all grants for the state of Uttar Pradesh. The same methodology can be extended to other states too. You can find the master list of accounting heads here.

Education Related Major Heads

Identifying the Education related Major Heads that might be related to Girl Child Education.

Findings (6)

Obsevations around scope of Education Related accouting heads.

• 30 combinations of Major Heads and Grant #s considered in scope across 7 Major Head Codes.

• Education related fiscal data identified across Department of Education, Housing Department, Administrative Reforms Department and more.

• Higher Education and other professional and technical education departments excluded from the scope.

Note: The complete documentation of the definition can be found here.

Education Related Schemes

Findings (7)

Observations regarding education related schemes in Uttar Pradesh.

• 7 Key Shcemes Identified for Education Related expenditure.

• These include:

  • Samgra Shiksha (Elementary Education)
  • SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
  • NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF MID DAY MEALS IN SCHOOLS
  • RASHTRIYA MADHYAMIK SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
  • Education Scheme for Madrasas and Minorities
  • Scheme for Adolescent Girls

These schemes also have accounting codes related to them and all of them fall under Major Head 2202 - General Education and 4202 - Capital outlay on Education, Sports, Arts and Culturewhich were identified as in-scope Major Head Codes earlier.

Fiscal Data Trends

Revised budget numbers for in-scope Uttar Pradesh education budgets

~10% increase in in-scope budget for Education related in heads in Uttar Pradesh across all fiscal years.

Schemes Trends

Revised budget numbers for in-scope schemes for Uttar Pradesh education budgets

Summary

Key Findings

• Drop in the allocation and expenditure of funds during FY 2020-21.
• Grants and Major Heads pertaining to child education identified.
• Revised scope of Education related fiscal data leading to ~10% increase in in-scope funds.

Next Steps

• Diving deeper into accounting heads beyond Major Head.
• Analysis of expenditure data for the corresponding budgets.
• Focusing on two aspirational districts in Uttar Pradesh.
• Identifying the Girl Child related expenditure.