Dharmendra Pradhan lauds Interim Budget 2024-25 as stepping stone..!

Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan lauded the Interim Budget 2024-25 as a stepping stone to make India a developed country by 2047.

Expressing his gratitude to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, he said this budget was a  brilliant, forward-looking, people-centric and growth-stimulating Viksit Bharat Budget. 

Shri Pradhan emphasised that the Budget gives further momentum to women-led development, fulfilling aspirations and furthering ease-of-living for all, green growth and employment generation. He also said that the Budget positions India for incremental all-round development across sectors.

Shri Pradhan complimented the Finance Minister for her far-sighted vision to combine the power of youth and technology in the Viksit Bharat Budget. He said that this budget will pave the way for a golden era of research, innovation and entrepreneurship led by India’s talented Yuva Shakti.

He said that the biggest announcement of this budget is the ‘Jai Anusandhan’ scheme for which ₹1 lakh crore has been announced as a corpus fund, through which private entities may opt for an interest-free loan for 50 years. This will directly benefit India’s new generation, Shri Pradhan added.

Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Interim Budget, 2024-25, highlighted the government’s unwavering commitment to empowering the youth, notably the Amrit Peedhi – the Yuva.

• The PM SHRI initiative was notably mentioned, as it is ensuring the delivery of high-quality education while the Skill India Mission has successfully trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh individuals, and established 3,000 new ITIs.

* Numerous institutions of higher learning, including 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMSs and 390 universities’ establishment also found a mention, marking a substantial stride in educational development.

• A notable 28% increase in female enrollment in higher education was a moment of pride. In STEM courses, women now make up an impressive 43% of the total enrollment, marking one of the highest figures globally.

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

• The Budget Allocation for the FY 2024-25 of ₹73,498 crore is the highest ever for the Department of School Education & Literacy.

• There has been an overall increase of ₹12,024 crore (19.56%) in the Budget Allocation of Department of School Education and Literacy in the FY 2024-25 from RE 2023-24.

• The highest ever Budget Allocation may be seen in the Autonomous Bodies of KVS & NVS at ₹9,302 cr. and ₹5,800 cr respectively.

• Budget Allocation in Flagship Schemes has increased, i.e., Samagra Shiksha (by ₹4,500 cr), PM-POSHAN (by ₹2,467 cr) and PM-SHRI (by ₹3,250 cr) as compared to RE 2023-24.

• Allocation in KVS has increased by ₹ 802 cr while allocation in NVS has increased by ₹330 cr w.r.t RE 2023-24.

Department of Higher Education

• The overall Budget Allocation in FY 2024-25 is Rs. 47619.77 Cr out of which Scheme allocation is Rs. 7487.87 cr and Non- Scheme allocation is Rs. 40131.90 cr.

• There has been an overall increase of Rs. 3525.15 Cr (7.99%) in the Budget Allocation of Department of Higher Education in the FY 2024-25 with respect to FY 2023-24.

ALLOCATIONS TO MAJOR AUTONOMOUS BODIES

• Allocation in Central Universities has been kept at Rs. 15928.00 Cr, i.e, Rs 4314.03 Cr more than allocation in BE 2023-24.

• Deemed Universities have been allocated Rs.596 Cr in 2024-25, which is Rs.96 Cr more than BE 2023-24

• IITs have been allocated Rs. 10324.5 Cr in 2024-25, which is Rs. 963.00 cr more than allocation in BE 2023-24.

• For NITs, Rs.5040 Cr has been allocated in FY 2024-25, increasing the allocation by Rs. 219.40 Cr in r/o BE 2023-24.

• In IISERs the allocation has been kept at Rs. 1540 Cr, increasing the allocation by Rs.78 Cr in r/o BE 2023-24.

• Support to Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have been allocated Rs. 875.77 Cr in 2024-25, which is Rs. 60.37 crmore than allocation in BE 2023-24.

ALLOCATIONS TO MAJOR SCHEMES

• For RUSA, the budget has been kept at Rs.1814.94 Cr for FY 2024-25, which is Rs. 314.94 cr more than BE 2023-24

* An allocation of Rs.1800 Cr has been kept for Institutions of Eminence(IOE), which is Rs. 300 Cr more than BE 2023-24

• For the scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Uchhatar ShikshaProtsahan Yojna’(PM-USP), the budget allocation has been kept at Rs.1558 Cr in FY 2024-25, which is Rs.4 Cr more than BE 2023-24

• In the scheme ‘National Apprenticeship Training Scheme(NATS)’, an allocation of Rs.600 Cr has been made in FY 2024-25, which is Rs.160 Cr more than BE 2023-24

• In the scheme ‘National Mission in Education through ICT’, an allocation of Rs.480 Cr has been made in FY 2024-25, which is Rs.80 Cr more than BE 2023-24

• In the scheme ‘Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education-EAP (MERITE)’, an allocation of Rs.200 Cr has been made in FY 2024-25, a 100% increase over the allocation in 2023-24.

• The scheme ‘Establishment of 3 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ was a budget announcement in FY 2023-24, an allocation of Rs.255 Cr has been made in FY 2024-25.

Stay Update with FELA news!