UPA not keen to implement RTE, says Nitish Kumar

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that the general budget for 2011-12 showed that the UPA-II at the Centre was not not firm in its resolve to implement the Right to Education Act.

Addressing a function here, Kumar said that the budget presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed to allocate Rs21,000 crore during 2011 from Rs15,000 crore during the corresponding period previous year at the national level.

"The allocation of fund proposed for the states, particularly a backward state like Bihar is meagre," he said.

The fact remained that the state of Bihar required allocation of Rs27,000 crore during the first year for strict implementation of the RTE Act.

"We cannot think of inclusive growth as long as every one receives education and reaps the harvest of development," Kumar said.

He enumerated the achievements of his government and said that the bicycle distribution scheme launched by it was a grand success and a role model.