Sun Feb 02 09:34:39 IST 2025: ## India’s Budget 2025: Employment Scheme Gets Boost, Pension Concerns Remain

**New Delhi, February 2, 2025** – India’s Union Budget for 2025-26 has allocated ₹20,000 crore to the New Employment Generation Scheme, significantly increasing its funding from the initial ₹10,000 crore announced last year. The Labour Ministry also saw a substantial budget increase, rising from ₹18,307.22 crore in the revised estimates for 2024-25 to ₹32,646.19 crore. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that a new rural prosperity program will tackle underemployment in agriculture through skill development, investment, and technological advancements. The goal, she said, is to create ample rural opportunities, reducing the necessity for rural-urban migration.

However, the budget has drawn criticism for its meager increase in allocation to the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), receiving only ₹11,250 crore. Despite demands for a minimum pension of ₹7,500, the existing ₹1,000 minimum remains unchanged.

Opposition trade unions, including the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), criticized the budget for failing to address economic slowdowns and the widening gap between corporate profits and the struggles faced by ordinary citizens. The AITUC specifically condemned the government’s privatization agenda and the allowance of 100% Foreign Direct Investment in the insurance sector.

Conversely, the pro-government Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) welcomed the budget, praising provisions aimed at improving the lives of working people and highlighting the increase in the income tax limit as a positive step.

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