Union Budget 2025: Check major announcements and highlights 

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget 2025-26 in the Parliament on Saturday.

Quoting Telugu poet and playwright Gurajada Appa Rao’s famous saying, ‘A country is not just its soil; a country is its people’ – the Finance Minister presented the Union Budget 2025-26 with the theme ‘Sabka Vikas’ stimulating balanced growth of all regions.

Here are key highlights:

Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0: The cost norms for the nutritional support to be enhanced appropriately.

Atal Tinkering Labs: 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs to be set up in Government schools in next 5 years.

Broadband Connectivity to Government Secondary Schools and PHCs: Broadband connectivity to be provided to all Government secondary schools and primary health centres in rural areas under the Bharatnet project.

Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme: Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme announced to provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education.

National Centres of Excellence for Skilling: 5 National Centres of Excellence for skilling to be set up with global expertise and partnerships to equip our youth with the skills required for ‘Make for India, Make for the World’ manufacturing.

Expansion of Capacity in IITs: Additional infrastructure to be created in the 5 IITs started after 2014 to facilitate education for 6,500 more students.

Centre of Excellence in AI for Education: A Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education to be set up with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore.

Expansion of medical education: 10,000 additional seats to be added in medical colleges and hospitals next year, adding to 75000 seats in the next 5 years.

Day Care Cancer Centres in all District Hospitals: Government to set up Day Care Cancer Centres in all district hospitals in the next 3 years, 200 Centres  in 2025-26.

Social Security Scheme for Welfare of Online Platform Workers: Government to arrange for identity cards, registration on e-Shram portal and healthcare under PM Jan Arogya Yojna, for gig-workers.

Support to States for Infrastructure: An outlay of Rs 1.5 lakh crore proposed for the 50-year interest free loans to states for capital expenditure and incentives for reforms.

Asset Monetization Plan 2025-30: Second Plan for 2025-30 to plough back capital of Rs 10 lakh crore in new projects announced.

Urban Challenge Fund: An Urban Challenge Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore announced to implement the proposals for ‘Cities as Growth Hubs’, ‘Creative Redevelopment of Cities’ and ‘Water and Sanitation’, allocation of Rs 10,000 crore proposed for 2025-26.

Nuclear Energy Mission for Viksit Bharat: Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to be taken up.

Nuclear Energy Mission for research & development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to be set up, 5 indigenously developed SMRs to be operational by 2033.