Education Ministry spent Rs 64.38 crore on PM Modi’s Pariksha Pe Charcha since 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s annual chat show with students, parents, and teachers, Pariksha Pe Charcha has incurred Rs 64.38 crore since 2020. Pariksha Pe Charcha (PPC) is a platform where PM Modi talks with students about board exams and shares related tips. PPC has been held since 2018. The Lok Sabha was informed about the expenditure after MPs Mala Roy and Manickam Tagore asked the Ministry of Education to share the costs and the rationale for the allocation of such funds.

The total expenditure spent on Pariksha Pe Charcha (PPC) over the last five years has shown significant variation. In 2020, the expenditure was Rs. 5.69 crore, which saw a slight increase to Rs 6 crore in 2021.

The spending for Pariksha Pe Charcha continued to rise in 2022, reaching Rs 8.16 crore. However, a substantial surge was observed in 2023, when the expenditure peaked at Rs 27.70 crore, marking the highest amount spent during this period. In 2024, the expenditure declined to Rs. 16.83 crore, yet it remained significantly higher than the amounts recorded before 2023.

“Expenditure as indicated above is incurred on various components, including hospitality for children travelling from all across the country and overall organisation of the event,” read the written answer uploaded on the website.

Roy and Tagore also asked the Ministry to update whether the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is



being implemented. To the question, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Jayant Chaudhary said, “The evaluation report by a third party revealed several limitations in scheme design and implementation such as persistent under- representation of rural areas, girls and certain states among scholarship awardees, lack of access to examination centres due to long travel distance, insufficiency of financial assistance, ineffective nurturance and inadequate dissemination of scheme,”

Consequently, the scheme and its major components have been undergoing a comprehensive review to align it with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and to address key limitations and making it more effective, said Chaudhary.

Over the years, the budget of the Ministry of Education has also been increased to Rs 93,224 Crore for the year 2021-22 and now reaching Rs 1,21,118 Crores in the year 2024-25 for various activities of the Ministry. The below graph shows the increase in the funds allocation.

This year, the Ministry of Education had conducted Pariksha Pe Charcha eighth edition on February 10. The event was held in Sundar Nursery with various personalities interacting with students. Renowned sports and Bollywood personalities like actor Deepika Padukone, Vikrant Massey, Bhumi Pednekar, six-time world champion boxer MC Mary Kom along with spiritual leader Sadhguru attended the event and shared their tips with students.