Public Spending on Technical Education in India:Inter-State Comparison

The paper examines public spending on technical education in India by both the Centre and the States. The rationale for the same becomes relevant when the economy has been undergoing structural changes over a span of time and the demand pattern for skills of different kinds has changed in different sectors, especially in the manufacturing sector. The study aims to make a comparison in public spending on technical education and its proportion to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) among 15 major states from 1991-1992 to 2011-2012 at constant prices. Inter-state comparison perceives that the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, economically and educationally backward, registered a negative growth rate in expenditure on technical education. Empirical results show that per student expenditure has risen appreciably in the 1990s, while after 2001-2002 it declined at both current and real prices. The per student expenditure is lower in the poor states which engrossed consideration toward more public spending in the destitute regions of the nation.