The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a single corpus fund in which all proceeds of secondary and higher education cess will be credited and utilised for the Government's schemes in the education sector. The HRD Ministry will be responsible for the administration and maintenance of the non-lapsable pool account which will be known as “Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh” (MUSK).
“The funds arising from the MUSK would be utilised for schemes in the education sector which would be available for the benefit of students of secondary and higher education,” an official statement said. However, in any financial year, the expenditure on ongoing schemes of the Department of School Education and literacy and Department of Higher Education would be initially incurred from the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) and the expenditure would be financed from the MUSK only after the GBS is exhausted.
The Cabinet also approved creation of one post of Director and three non-teaching posts for National Institute for Technology (NIT), Andhra Pradesh.
The Cabinet further approved a proposal to finish the incomplete work in the North Koel reservoir project in Jharkhand and Bihar at an estimated investment of Rs 1,622 crore. The North Koel reservoir is located in the most backward tribal areas in Jharkhand's Palamau and Garhwa districts, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said, adding the project would be like a weapon against Maoists in the areas.
The project will irrigate more than 1.11 lakh hectares of land annually in the most backward and drought prone areas of Palamu and Garhwa in Jharkhand and Aurangabad and Gaya in Bihar, she added.
This apart, the Cabinet gave its approval for 7 posts of Principal Director and 36 posts of Director on regular basis in the Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) Civil Service, Ministry of Defence as part of restructuring. The government said the decision is aimed at ensuring better cadre management and bring improvement in the efficiency of the service.