Pradhan Lauds Interim Budget 2024-25 As Step Towards Making India Developed Country by 2047

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 2nd Feb. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, has praised the Interim Budget 2024-25 as a significant step towards making India a developed country by 2047.

In expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he described the budget as brilliant, forward-looking, people-centric, and growth-stimulating.

Pradhan emphasized that the budget provides further momentum for women-led development, fulfilling aspirations, improving quality of life for all, promoting green growth, and generating employment. He also stated that the budget positions India for comprehensive development across all sectors.

Pradhan commended the Finance Minister for her visionary approach to combining the power of youth and technology in the Viksit Bharat Budget. He believes that this budget will pave the way for a golden era of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship led by India’s talented youth.

He highlighted the Jai Anusandhan scheme as the most significant announcement of the budget. The scheme includes a corpus fund of ₹1 lakh crore, through which private entities can opt for an interest-free loan for 50 years. Pradhan said that this will directly benefit the new generation of India.

During the presentation of the Interim Budget 2024-25, Union Finance Minister  Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized the government’s unwavering commitment to empowering the youth, particularly the Amrit Peedhi – the Yuva.

The budget also highlighted various achievements in the education sector, including the PM SHRI initiative, which ensures the delivery of high-quality education. The Skill India Mission has successfully trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh individuals, and established 3,000 new ITIs. Additionally, there has been a notable 28% increase in female enrollment in higher education, with women now accounting for 43% of total enrollment in STEM courses.

Highlights of Budget 2024-25 – D/o School Education & Literacy

The budget allocation for the Department of School Education & Literacy in FY 2024-25 is ₹73,498 crore, the highest ever.

There has been an overall increase of ₹12,024 crore (19.56%) in the budget allocation for the Department of School Education and Literacy compared to the previous year.

The Autonomous Bodies of KVS and NVS have received the highest ever budget allocation of ₹9,302 crore and ₹5,800 crore, respectively.

The budget allocation for flagship schemes such as Samagra Shiksha, PM-POSHAN, and PM-SHRI has increased compared to the previous year.

The allocation for KVS has increased by ₹802 crore, and the allocation for NVS has increased by ₹330 crore compared to the previous year.

Department of Higher Education

The overall budget allocation for the Department of Higher Education in FY 2024-25 is ₹47,619.77 crore, with scheme allocation at ₹7,487.87 crore and non-scheme allocation at ₹40,131.90 crore.

There has been an overall increase of ₹3,525.15 crore (7.99%) in the budget allocation for the Department of Higher Education compared to the previous year.

Allocations to Major Autonomous Bodies

Central Universities have been allocated ₹15,928.00 crore, an increase of ₹4,314.03 crore compared to the previous year.

Deemed Universities have been allocated ₹596 crore, an increase of ₹96 crore compared to the previous year.

IITs have been allocated ₹10,324.5 crore, an increase of ₹963.00 crore compared to the previous year.

NITs have been allocated ₹5,040 crore, an increase of ₹219.40 crore compared to the previous year.

IISERs have been allocated ₹1,540 crore, an increase of ₹78 crore compared to the previous year.

Support to Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has been allocated ₹875.77 crore, an increase of ₹60.37 crore compared to the previous year.

Allocations to Major Schemes

The budget for RUSA is ₹1,814.94 crore, an increase of ₹314.94 crore compared to the previous year.

An allocation of ₹1,800 crore has been made for Institutions of Eminence (IOE), an increase of ₹300 crore compared to the previous year.

The budget allocation for the scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Uchhatar Shiksha Protsahan Yojna’ (PM-USP) is ₹1,558 crore, an increase of ₹4 crore compared to the previous year.

An allocation of ₹600 crore has been made for the scheme ‘National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS)’, an increase of ₹160 crore compared to the previous year.

An allocation of ₹480 crore has been made for the scheme ‘National Mission in Education through ICT’, an increase of ₹80 crore compared to the previous year.

An allocation of ₹200 crore has been made for the scheme ‘Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education-EAP (MERITE)’, a 100% increase compared to the previous year.

An allocation of ₹255 crore has been made for the scheme ‘Establishment of 3 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Artificial Intelligence (AI)’.