The Union Budget 2023-2024 was presented to the parliament on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. According to budget records, the Ministry of Education will get a staggering ₹1,12,898.97 crore from the centre for the upcoming fiscal year. Notably, this is the largest budgetary allocation ever given to the ministry. The expenditure for the department of School Education is ₹68,804,85 crore, while the expenditure for the department of Higher Education is ₹44,094.62 crore.The expenditure budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023 allotted ₹1,04,277.72 crore to the Ministry of Education. According to the updated figures, the Higher Education Department received ₹40828.35. According to the updated forecasts for 2022-2023, the School Education Department received ₹59052.78.
Opinions of eminent educationists
“The Union Budget 2023 is a step in the right direction for the education sector in India. The focus on bridging the learning loss gap and providing access to quality books through a national digital library is commendable. The allocation of resources towards revisioning teacher training, establishing new nursing colleges, and skill development centers will play a crucial role in preparing the future workforce. The emphasis on industry partnership, research in AI and innovation, and the establishment of Centres of Excellence for AI in leading educational institutions will propel India towards becoming a leader in the field. This budget demonstrates the government’s commitment to investing in education and nurturing the growth of a skilled and competent workforce.”-Dr. Meena Chintamaneni, Pro Vice Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed-to-be University
The budget 2023 is very encouraging for pharmaceutical industry and research institutions, as it announced promotion of research and innovation in pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that ‘a new programme for research in pharmaceuticals will be formulated and the industry will be encouraged to invest in research.’ The budget will support pharma industry for promoting R&D. R&D requires huge investment which currently is a deterrent to many pharma companies. This budget will help Indian pharma companies to focus on solutions for societal healthcare problems through development of innovative products and devices. In India, as on today, most of the medical devices imported. FM’s announcement to support multidisciplinary courses in existing institutions for medical devices will encourage academic institutions to create skilled manpower to develop research, medical technologies and manufacturing capabilities in the country. The announcement that the strength of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) Labs will be made available for public, R&D teams and college faculty gives a bright hope and motivation for collaborative research and innovation. Investing resources in creating excellence in AI in India will also boost pharma and health care sectors. The health care resources can be optimally deployed to provide affordable healthcare to Indian population ‘making AI work for India.’ Collaboration between Industry & academia, visualised by the FM is the need of the hour in pharma and healthcare sector. During and post pandemic, the whole world has moved to online health care systems. Setting up of 5G facilities in health care sector will lead to more start-ups and business opportunities to the youth of India.-Dr Bala Prabhakar, Dean Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy & Technology Management (SPPSPTM), NMIMS Mumbai
“It was heartening to see the Budget have a clear focus on Youth Power and leveraging digital technologies to create jobs and empower youth to their fullest potential. The push towards Industry 4.0, such as AI, coding, mechatronics, drones, 3d printing etc for upskilling talent for a more technology-driven and future-ready environment is yet another step towards making us well-poised to become a flourishing economy with India being looked upon as the digital innovation hub for the world. The government has already made great strides towards this with the Skill India mission and with the launch of fourth phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) it will be another boost for skilling and reducing the skills gap. Despite global slump, we continue to see demand for upskilling from both individuals and businesses. Udemy has been at the forefront of meeting this demand in India, and we look forward to continuing empowering organizations and individuals with flexible and effective skill development opportunities. We believe the next decade will be India’s decade, depending on how we harness our people’s potential.”–Irwin Anand, Vice President & Managing Director , India and Asia-Pacific region, Udemy
The healthcare sector of India is the largest sector among the countries of the world. It is the fastest growing
sector which provides a variety of services in the field of medicine. The Finance Minister of India Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the annual budget for 2023-24 today. One of the most important highlights of the budget was the recent developments in the medical sector. The Finance Minister in her presentation stated that 157 new nursing colleges would be set up across 4 major locations in India. This will open up new opportunities for students across the country. The government has also proposed a plan to increase health expenditure by 2.5% of the total gross GDP. Moreover, emphasis will be laid to develop research facilities across various ICMR labs throughout the country. Various new projects have been devised to promote pharmaceutical research. The new budget has also focussed on various multi-dispensary courses which would enable better medical facilities across the rural areas. Compared to the previous year this year’s budget is overall student-centric as it will provide maximum benefit to thousands of medical aspirants across the nation. Moreover, the budget will also benefit the teachers and mentors as more and more emphasis will be given to providing quality training sessions to them.-Mr Gaurav Tyagi, Founder, Career Xpert born and brought up in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
