Forget funds crunch, half of India’s universities don’t even utilise 50% of their grants

Karnatak University in Dharwad | Pixabay

Of 162 state universities, 70 have used less than half their central govt grants, with 20 spending less than 30%.

New Delhi: A lack of funding is often cited as the reason for the poor state of centrally-funded universities across the country but data accessed by ThePrint reveals that nearly half of them have not even spent 50 per cent of their grants under the 12^th five-year plan.

Of the 162 state universities funded by the central government, 70 have not spent even half their funds, with around 20 universities spending less than 30 per cent of their grants, the data shows.

Such is the situation that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has now allowed universities, which began construction projects after March 2017, time until March 2019 to use their funds.

The commission had contemplated stopping funds to the universities but the idea has been shelved as of now.

As per the higher education data, these 162 universities cater to 3,75,000 students.

The central government funds are for the universities to improve infrastructure, ensure campus development, cover staff costs, and meet expenses from books, laboratory and equipment usage among a host of other things.

A UGC official said extraneous circumstances may have also contributed to the poor fund utilisation.

“Most universities cite administrative issues like not having a vice-chancellor, or registrar or something similar. But another reason behind non-utilisation of funds is that state universities have to face a lot of political pressure from local bodies, when it comes to how funds should be utilised, especially in construction work. An MLA or councillor will want his company to get the construction tender, as another legislator will want the same. So the administration mostly just stops the work,” the official said.

Karnatak the worst

The worst offender, as per the UGC data, is Karnatak University in Dharwad, which has only used 2 per cent of the total funds.

Patna University, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the convocation this year, has been able to spend only 14 per cent of its funds, while Jai Prakash University in Patna has spent only 12 per cent of its funds.

Utkal University in Odisha also ranks amongst the poorest in terms of fund utilisation, having spent just 6 per cent of its government grants.  Other institutes on the list include Kerala University, Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, and Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore, among others.

An official from Patna University blamed issues with red tape for his institution’s struggles with spending funds. “Under-utilisation of funds is mostly because of bureaucratic issues in the university. Sometimes it’s the absence of a registrar to take decisions, at others it is the development officer. The university is at fault for improper utilisation of budget but UGC is also to be blamed. They do not release grants on time,” the official said.

Swapna Mahapatra, a faculty member at Utkal University who deals with the funds, told ThePrint that his university has spent substantial funds. “We have utilised maximum funds granted to us by UGC and we have also sent them a report, but they are not accepting it,” he said.

A UGC official, however, explained that the university had not followed guidelines in its spending and hence its case would not be considered. The university will also lose out on further grants if its earlier expenses are not cleared.

“The university has reported expenses to us, but they are not as per the guidelines of UGC, therefore we cannot update it for the university,” the official said.