PRADHAN MANTRI UCHCHATAR SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (PM-USHA) - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CONCERN RAISED BY THE STATES

PM-Uchchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) is an ambitious scheme of the Government of India. The Government of India has started this scheme through the Ministry of Education. The objective of this scheme, which has far-reaching goals in higher education, is to provide easy access to the common people by improving the quality of the current education system. This is the reason that for this complex work, the Central Government has made a provision to establish coordination with the states in this scheme and to increase the quality of education, state universities and its affiliated colleges have also been included in this ambitious scheme. In view of the provisions and criteria set for financial assistance for higher education in this scheme, some states have registered their objections and have requested the Central Government to make desired changes or improvements in these provisions. Some state governments say that all the provisions of revenue allocation prescribed in the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan are meant to implement the National Education Policy 2020 through the back door. All these state governments say that the central government should give up its vested interests and work with the state governments to bring uniformity in its criteria for this ambitious scheme. Apart from this, some relaxation should also be adopted in the rules related to revenue borne by the states. The success of any scheme depends on better coordination between the central and state governments and the feeling of keeping each other's rights intact. Personal selfishness and political malice distort the basic spirit of this scheme, as a result of which the scheme is unable to achieve its basic objectives. Therefore, the Central and State Governments should pave the way for the success of this scheme by ending mutual ideological differences and bringing desired reforms.