Small to modest hikes in social sector schemes

The Centre has effected small to modest hikes across various social sector schemes under the education, social justice and empowerment and tribal affairs ministries.

The overall allocation for the education ministry has been increased by 6.4% from ₹112,899.47 crore in 2023-24 to ₹120,627.87 crore in the interim budget. Of this, ₹73,008 crore has been set aside for school education while ₹47,619 crore for higher education. The standout boost is for the PMSHRI scheme - PM Schools for Rising India - which has been allocated ₹4,000 crore for developing 15,000 schools as benchmarks for quality education. The flagship mid-day meal scheme also got a hike - from ₹10,233 crore to ₹11,600 crore. PM STARS - The Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) - project has seen an increase from ₹800 crore to ₹1,250 crore.

The budget estimate for social justice and empowerment has seen a 1.2% increase with no new schemes introduced. The interim budget has reallocated the outlay with an almost 30% increase in budget estimate for transgender welfare and a 20% increase under NAMASTE (a scheme which pushes mechanisation of sewerage to obliterate manual scavenging).


The outlay for the tribal affairs ministry has seen a 4.3% increase. Interim budget has allocated ₹107.52 crore for marketing and logistics development for promoting tribal products from the northeastern region. It is a 450% increase over the ₹20 crore allocated in RE 2023-24.