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Education
$500-m aid from World Bank for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan project
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
June 3
THE Government on Thursday signed an agreement with the World Bank for availing $500-million assistance from the latter for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) project.
The $500-million amount would partly cover the total cost of the project, which is estimated at $3.5 billion (Rs 15,750 crore) over a four-year period between 2003-04 and 2006-07.
Besides the contribution from the World Bank, the project — which aims to achieve universal enrolment and completion of elementary education of children of 6-14 years age group by 2010, while reducing the number of out-of-children by at least 9 million by June 2007 — will get funding from other international agencies such as the DFID ($300 million) and the European Commission ($200 million). The remaining $2.5 billion (Rs 11,250 crore, i.e., around Rs 2,800 crore annually) would have to be raised by the Centre and State governments themselves.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance's Common Minimum Programme has talked about introducing a cess on all central taxes to finance the commitment to universalise access to quality basic education.
Considering that the Centre's gross annual tax collections amount to about Rs 3,00,000 crore, even a one per cent cess would be able to mop up the entire Rs 2,800-crore domestic funding requirement. While the assistance from the DFID and European Commission is in the form of outright grants, the World Bank money is repayable in 35 years, including a grace period of 10 years.
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