Sat Feb 01 16:03:42 IST 2025: ## India’s Budget 2025 Prioritizes Education, Healthcare, and Skill Development

**New Delhi** – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today unveiled Union Budget 2025, focusing heavily on improving the lives of India’s poor, youth, farmers, and women. The budget earmarks significant funds for education and healthcare expansion, technological advancement, and the promotion of Indian languages.

A key component of the budget is a substantial investment in higher education. The expansion of India’s prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is a major priority, with plans to add infrastructure for 6,500 students at five IITs established after 2014, and further expansion planned for IIT Patna. The government also boasts a 100% increase in IIT student enrollment over the past decade.

The healthcare sector will see a significant boost with the addition of approximately 10,000 medical college seats next year, part of a larger plan to add 75,000 seats over the next five years.

To foster innovation and technological advancement, the government will establish around 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs within the next five years and provide broadband connectivity to all government secondary schools. Furthermore, five National Centers of Excellence will be set up to upskill youth for the “Make in India and Make for the World” initiative. A Center of Excellence in AI for education will also be established, focusing on three key sectors. The government also highlighted the promotion of education in Indian languages through the Bhartiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme.

Budget 2025 also includes substantial investment in social welfare programs, such as Saksham Aganwadi and Poshan 2.0, benefiting over 80 million children, 2 million adolescent girls, and pregnant women.

Finally, to support small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the government will increase investment and turnover limits by 2.5 and 2 times respectively.

This is Ms. Sitharaman’s eighth consecutive budget presentation.

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