According to Subhas Sarkar, minister of state for education, an expert committee under the University Grants Commission (UGC) identified 374 educationally backward districts (EBDs) with a gross enrollment ratio (GER) in higher education that was less than the national average of 12.4%. The minister also provided State-specific information about EBDs in response to a Rajya Sabha query.
The minister informed Rajya Sabha that several educational programmes have been developed by the federal government to aid state governments in raising the standard of education. In his written response, he added that as education is a topic covered by the concurrent list of the Indian constitution, both the central and state governments are responsible for raising the standard of education.
The higher education department's implementation of the federally funded Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) programme, which promotes access, equity, and quality among other things, was given as an example by Sarkar. In accordance with the RUSA plan, the Union government offers subsidies to colleges and universities for infrastructure improvements as well as central aid to states for the establishment of model degree institutions.
According to the minister, Rs. 5,896.33 crores have been approved under the RUSA scheme to help India's EBDs. Along with the response to Rajya Sabha's unstarred question, Sarkar also provided the list of EBDs.
