00:02Amidst a growing national focus on the state of primary education, a remark from the Supreme
00:07Court Justice Prasanna has now put the spotlight firmly on how public money is prioritized.
00:14Justice Varley drew a sharp comparison between the money being spent on the upcoming Kumbh
00:21Mela in Nashik and the funds that are available to schools.
00:27His point was not that development or religious events should not receive public funding,
00:32it was that basic education cannot become an afterthought.
00:38Justice Varley said that even if 0.1% of the expenditure planned for Kumbh could make a
00:47significant difference to government schools, why wasn't that being considered?
00:52And look at the numbers which are so striking here.
00:54The comparison is absolute because the estimated Kumbh expenditure is between 32,000 to 34,000
01:04crores.
01:07And according to Justice Varley, just around 32 crores, a fraction of that projected expenditure
01:14could have helped prevent the closure of about 100 to 125 Marathi medium schools.
01:21His concern extends beyond school closure.
01:25He pointed to the condition of government and rural schools, including the ashram alayas,
01:30where basic infrastructure and child safety remains a concern.
01:35And at the same time, he flagged what he described as a worrying trend in education spending, where
01:41budgets are shrinking even as the number of students continues to rise.
01:45And that is the larger message.
01:48This one coming in, getting a big cheer online as well.
01:51For children in rural and government schools, education begins with the basic functioning classrooms,
01:57safe infrastructure, access to school, and somewhere where they don't have to struggle and survive.
02:04So the Chief Justice there putting into perspective what a fraction of allocation that goes into
02:09Kumbh could actually do for our kids' future.
02:16Kumbh could actually do for our kids' future.
02:29Kumbh could actually do for our kids' future.
02:43Kumbh could actually do for our kids' future.
02:56Anisha Mathurna joins us for more perspective on this story.
03:00Anisha, so it was a private event where the justice made these comments.
03:04Brilliant comments, if one can really call it that.
03:07At this point, does it, a comment made by Chief Justice in a private event, does it have
03:14any kind of bearing on the government at all?
03:17And, you know, on one hand, I have to ask you, on one hand we had comments being made
03:23against Gen Z, calling them cockroach, which led to a movement in the country.
03:27And on the other, we have this.
03:28What is this telling us about the vibrancy in our judicial system?
03:33Well, to answer your first question first, Sonal, a comment that has been made by a judge
03:40attending a private event or any comment really outside of an order passed in a courtroom
03:46really doesn't have much of a bearing.
03:48And unfortunately, we've seen the stark reality where even judgments and directions
03:53passed by the courts have not had much of a bearing.
03:56Because if you put Justice Varalay's comment in the context of the larger question of education
04:02budgets and other issues that have actually come before the court, we've seen multiple
04:08situations where courts have questioned why state governments have not given enough money
04:14to child protection systems, including even prosecution of POCSO cases, including education, including food safety schemes, etc.
04:29And every single time various state governments have come and said, we do not have enough budget for it.
04:35In fact, it is the same state of Maharashtra that was wrapped a few years ago by the court for
04:41saying that they do not have
04:42enough money to fund certain child protection schemes and women safety schemes that were supposed to be implemented.
04:51Now, once again, we are seeing a judge talking about education, talking about the budgetary constraints.
04:58Because as you mentioned, Justice Varalay has not said, why are you funding a road corridor or why are you
05:04funding the Kumbh Mela?
05:05He's saying that less than 13% of the annual budget goes to education, which is a worrying trend.
05:14He is pointing out that we are not spending enough to ensure that our schools, our children are in a
05:20shape where we can shape a future for our children.
05:23And in context of the larger question of where education is going, that is a very important point.
05:30Let's see what or if anything comes out of this comment. Back to you.
05:35All right. Welcome comments over there by the Justice.
05:37Let's see how really it's taken in and what feedback actually reaches our political class as well.
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