No, Centre Did Not Cut Down Budget For AMU From Rs 62 Crores To Rs 9 Crores; Viral Claim Is False

Image Credit: Twitter

No, Centre Did Not Cut Down Budget For AMU From Rs 62 Crores To Rs 9 Crores; Viral Claim Is False

A Facebook user shared this claim and wrote, "The annual budget of Aligarh Muslim University was reduced from 62 crores to 9 crores! Thanks for this decision of Modi Govt." The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim.

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A claim is viral across social media platforms claiming that Aligarh Muslim University has received comparatively fewer funds this year. Netizens sharing the claim have alleged that AMU's allocated budget has been reduced from Rs 62 crores to Rs 9 crores.

Claim:

The viral claim is a text that states in Hindi, "Annual budget of Aligarh Muslim University reduced from 62 crores to 9 crores. The mourning continues among the opposition....."


A Facebook user wrote, "अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी का वार्षिक बजट 62 करोड़ से घटा कर 9 करोड़ किया गया! मोदी सरकार के इस निर्णय के लिए आभार."

[English Translation: The annual budget of Aligarh Muslim University was reduced from 62 crores to 9 crores! Thanks for this decision of Modi Govt.] This post gained 8.5k likes and 350+ shares.


The claim is viral across Twitter and Facebook.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The figure in the claim is baseless.

We conducted a keyword search for 'Aligarh Muslim University budget' and came across this report by The Wire published on 19 July 2022. The Wire report titled, 'Funds to JMI, AMU Reduced Sharply; Budget for BHU Doubled; Allocation for JNU Stagnant' states that fund allocation for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) was significantly reduced in the last financial year, 2021-22.

The Wire report documents the response given by the Ministry of Education to the Lok Sabha on Monday, July 18, reporting that there was a 15% dip in The Ministry of Education provided funding for the Aligarh varsity.

In the case of Aligarh Muslim University, there has been a marked decline in the allocated budget from Rs 1,520.10 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 1,214.63 crore in 2021-22. "In the current financial year, the reply said the allocation was Rs 302.32 crore in the first quarter." the report states.

Image Credit: The Wire

We also came across a Jagran report, which noted the budget cuts for Aligarh Muslim University. The report was published on 23 July 2022 and states that in the financial year 2014-15, AMU received a budget of 673.98 crores. The budget was increased to Rs 1520.10 crores in 2020-21, the maximum budget received from the Central Government yet. The AMU budget was reduced to 1214.63 in 2021-22. "This year on June 30, for the financial year 2022-23, the university has got only 302.32 crore budget so far", the Jagran report states.

We conducted a keyword search for the Ministry of Education's (MoE) responses to questions about AMU's budget in the Lok Sabha. On the database of LokSabha responses, we came across the following response. Dr Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State in the MoE, noted the allocated budget to AMU in the past five years in crores.

We came across another response by Dr Subhas Sarkar in response to a question by T.N Prathapan. Prathapan asked whether the Government has reduced the fund allocation to the Central Universities.

In the response, Sarkar states, "Allocation of funds is made on the basis of the requirement projected by the University and expenditure incurred during the previous year as well as the availability of funds."

The detailed budget allocation to Aligarh Muslim University is also provided in the report, as seen below.

Image Credit: LokSabhaQuestions

As per the figures stated in the response, AMU's annual budget peaked at Rs 1520.10 crore in 2020-21. However, since then, it had been reduced to Rs 1214.63 crore, a difference of nearly Rs 306 crore as compared to the previous year. So far, the allocated funds have been reduced to Rs 302.32 crores for 2022-23.

The response also mentions that Banaras Hindu University has been allocated Rs 325.29 crores as of yet in 2022-23.

In our Fact Check, we also came across this Jagran report which noted that members of Congress in Moradabad protested against the budget reduction for AMU. As per the report, the Congress members protested in front of the Moradabad Collectorate and sent a memorandum to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, noting their grievances.

The Jagran report also quotes local Congress leader Afzal Sabri who alleged that the reduction in the allocated budget of Aligarh Muslim University has been happening since 2018. "The budget was reduced from 62 crores to 22 crores. In this session, it has been further reduced to nine and a half crores." he is quoted as saying.

Image Credit: Jagran

Conclusion:

In our Fact Check, we found that the annual budget for AMU has indeed been reduced as compared to the previous year. From a peak of Rs 1520.10 crore allocated in 2020-21, the allocated budget has dropped to Rs 1214.63 in the year 2021-22. For Q1, Rs 301.32 has been provided.

However, the drop in funds is not as drastic as the netizens have claimed. The government has allocated a similar amount of funds for other universities, such as Banaras Hindu University (Rs 325.29 crores) as of Q1. We also found that the figures provided in the viral claim are baseless. Thus, we can determine that the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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