Education Budget 2025 LIVE: Big announcements for IITs, medical colleges, mid-day meals in union budget speech

In Union budget 2025, the government has announced 10,000 PM research fellowships in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, for an enhanced support.

Nirmala Sitharaman announced to set up 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools in next 5 years. The Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme will be implemented to provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education, she said.

The Centre will provide 10,000 PM Research Fellowship for students in IITs and IISc Bangalore with enhanced financial support: Nirmala Sitharaman

For education sector, Nirmala Sitharaman has announced plans for expansion of IITs. In this regard, additional infrastructure for 5 IITs and 6,500 new seats will be added. IIT Patna to increase hostels and infra capacity, the finance minister said.

IIT Patna (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In next year, 10,000 additional seats will be added in medical colleges to achieve the goal of 75,000 seats in next 5 years.

The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces establishment of three Centre of Excellence in AI for education with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore for artificial intelligence in excellence education.

Five National Centre for Excellence for Skilling will be set up with global expertise, says finance minister in her Budget speech 2025.

National Institute of Food Technology and Management to be set up in Bihar to enhance income to farmers, skilling and employment opportunities for youth: Nirmala Sitharaman

A new scheme for 5 lakh women will be launched for SC, ST, first time entrepreneurs to get loans. Moreover, credit guarantee cover to be enhanced for start-ups, from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore: Nirmala Sitharaman

The Union Budget will initiate reforms in 6 domains - taxation, urban development, mining, financial sector, power and regulatory reforms: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The first part of the Budget Session will have nine sittings from January 31 to February 13. Parliament will then break for recess to examine the budget proposals on February 13 and meet again from March 10 to discuss the demands for grants of various ministries and complete the budgetary process. The session will conclude on April 4. The entire Budget Session will have 27 sittings.

Viksit Bharat encompasses zero poverty, 100% quality education, comprehensive healthcare, good school education, 100% school and 70% women in employment: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman delivering budget speech 2025.

Indian economy is fastest growing among all developing economies, says FM Sitharaman presenting Budget for FY26. We see the next five years as a unique opportunity to stimulate growth, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

A total budget allocation of Rs 1.48 lakh crore was allotted for education, employment, and skilling for the current fiscal year 2024-25.

The members of the opposition started raising slogans disrupting the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech 2025.

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.

The Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting the Union Budget 2025 in the Lok Sabha now. Watch Budget speech and latest updates and allocation for education sector here.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting her eighth Budget in the Lok Sabha. As per established tradition, the finance minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament. President Murmu offered 'dahi-chini' (curd-sugar), considered auspicious, to Sitharaman before she left for Parliament to present the Union Budget, the PTI reported.

The Union Budget is expected to focus on health and education. Last year, the Central Budget focused majorly on 4 major castes, namely  ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and  ‘Annadata’ (Farmer).

The Budget 2025 will be live streamed on YouTube among other social media platforms.

Union Budget 2025: Nirmala Sitharaman will give speech shortly.

Nirmala Sitharaman had in her first Budget in 2019 replaced the leather briefcase -- which was in use for decades for carrying Budget documents -- with a traditional 'bahi-khata' wrapped in red cloth. This year's Budget would be in paperless form, as done in the last three years.

File images shows Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman with the ‘Union Budget’ in the previous years.

Nirmala Sitharaman with the Union Budget (Source: PTI)

All higher education institutions (HEIs) to become multidisciplinary institutions by 2040, the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled on Friday, announced measures to increase opportunities for outstanding public education, provide scholarships for disadvantaged and underprivileged students, online education and Open Distance Learning (ODL), and accessible learning materials for persons with disabilities.

Is this finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's first budget? Not even remotely. She took charge as minister of finance in 2019. This, however, will be the first full, standard budget in the third term of the Narendra Modi government. Sitharaman presented an interim budget before the elections in 2024 and another, post election, in July.

In the July budget, the finance minister had announced initiatives to encourage internships and employment .

In the higher education budget, the largest allocation typically goes to the central universities as grants. The budget allocated to universities has risen steadily but, interestingly, universities are not funded as generously as the IITs. Despite being almost twice in number, it'll share is only about 30% more. Here's how much the Union Budget has given central universities over the past few years.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will make her budget speech in Parliament at 11 am. The union budget live streaming can be viewed on the YouTube channel of PIB India and also on the official website, indiabudget.gov.in

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with ministry officials before budget speech (image: PTI)

The budget will be live webcast on the Press Information Bureau's YouTube channel, PIB India.

Union Budget live updates on Youtube (Image: PIB India channel)

The budget session of Parliament began on Friday with the President's speech and the tabling of the Economic Survey 2024-25. The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget in Parliament - the budget speech timing is 11 am today - and the papers will be uploaded online shortly after. Parliament will vote on the budget and the Finance Bill during the session as well.

The Union Budget speech 2025 will be delivered from 11 am, by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in parliament. However, the details of the budget - the expenditures, revenue statements and others - will be published on the India Budget website later in the day. All documents and announcements will be available today.

The total allocation to the education ministry's department of higher education has increased over the past few years, crossing Rs 47,000 crore in the current financial year. The trends are given below.

Education Budget Highlights: Higher ed so far

"We have no expectations from the budget. They have been presenting it for 10-11 years and have done nothing substantial. We just need to see how many dimensions they brought to give relaxation to their friends, big capitalists... They may try to lure people through some promises as elections are there in Delhi," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.

Ahead of the Union Budget 2025, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at the finance ministry. The budget will be read in parliament at 11 am.

Union Budget 2025: Nirmala Sitharaman at finance ministry (Image: PTI)

The Economic Survey’s chapter on "Employment and Skill Development: Existential Priorities", highlighted key challenges faced due to low-skilled workers, which is attributable to the quality of educational outcomes across different levels of education. “Low educational skills in the workforce make a mismatch between their academic qualifications and job market demands. This mismatch has resulted in over 53% of graduates and 36% of postgraduates being underemployed in roles below their educational qualifications," the survey said.

Ravichandran urged the Union government to prioritise open-source platforms for Indian language SLMs/LLMs, expand internet access to remote areas via satellite technology, and to establish digital classrooms nationwide to bridge the digital divide. "To truly empower the next generation, AI, coding, and computer science must be integrated into the curriculum from Class 1, with an enhanced focus on mathematics, building upon existing frameworks like the CBSE syllabus".

Ravichandran V Chairperson and trustee at eVidyaloka

Ravichandran V Chairperson and trustee at eVidyaloka, an organization empowering rural students with future-ready education, said: "Budget 2025 needs to make a bold commitment to education—raising funding from 3% to 8% and ensuring rural students are not left behind in an AI-driven world."

He suggested that the investment should focus on three key areas: expanding access to quality education through hybrid mode, addressing teacher shortages by leveraging public-private partnerships for AI-powered learning solutions, and preparing students for an AI-driven world. "This includes equipping every government school with computers and introducing AI education from 6th grade in collaboration with leading tech companies," he added.

Twitter users have been flooding the social media platforms with memes ahead of the Union Budget 2025.

Nirmala Sitharaman gets trolled for tax reforms. (Image: X)

The Budget speech 2025 will be live streamed through the social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and X. The finance minister has arrived at the North Block of the Parliament ahead of the India Budget 2025.

Last five years’ education  budget allocation for school and higher education departments.

The Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday revealed that the school dropout rates have steadily declined with primary dropout rates at 1.9%, upper primary at 5.2%, and secondary at 14.1%. The importance of skill education in schools has grown significantly with the advent of Industry 4.0, a highly dynamic and skill-intensive era defined by automation, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), big data, and robotics, it said.

Economic Survey 2024-25 highlights

On the Union Budget 2025, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel says, "GST on craft should be removed...Things beneficial for women should be there in the budget," the ANI reported.

Expectations of relief on income tax, particularly for lower middle class, is high after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked goddess of wealth for elevating poor and middle class. "I pray to Goddess Lakshmi that the poor and the middle-class sections in the country are blessed by her," Modi said on Friday while speaking to reporters outside Parliament before the start of the Budget session.

• Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will take up discussion on President Droupadi Murmu's address to Parliament on Monday as the Budget session begins on January 31.
• The President addressed both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber on Friday.
• The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2024-25 on Friday briefly after the President's address.
• The Finance Minister will present the General Budget 2025 today, February 1, in the Lok Sabha at 11 am.
• Lok Sabha has provisionally allotted two days from February 3-4 for discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, while Rajya Sabha has earmarked three days for the debate.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate in Rajya Sabha on February 6.
• Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in Parliament on January 30 to ensure smooth functioning of the Budget session.

(With inputs from PTI)

The handloom weavers of Mandi have requested that provisions be made in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to provide training to weavers to hone their skills.

The Central Budget 2025 will be announced by the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman today at 11 am in the Lok Sabha.

Srinivasa Addepalli, Founder and CEO, GlobalGyan Leadership Academy said: “As we look toward the Union Budget 2025, it's important that we focus on skilling, upskilling, and leadership development to prepare our workforce for the future. The emphasis of education is only on 15-20 years of school and college. The next 30-40 years are equally important for learning. Professional upskilling should be treated on par with education.  By investing in programs that provide individuals with the skills they need, we can help them stay relevant in a fast-changing job market."

Srinivasa Addepalli, Founder and CEO, GlobalGyan Leadership Academy

India’s first budget was presented on November 26, 1947, by the first finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty.

Shanmukham Chetty broadcasting on the Budget presented by him in the Indian Parliament in November, 1947, from AIR, New Delhi (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver her 8th consecutive budget 2025 speech in the Lok Sabha at 11 am today, February 1.

The Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the second full budget 2025 of the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. The Union Budget 2025 will be tabled in the Lok Sabha.