What does FM have for women and education in Union Budget 2019?

As part of the first Union Budget of the second term of Modi’s government, much attention was paid towards women empowerment as well as the education sector. It was a great sight to see the woman finance minister speak of the empowerment of women in terms of providing greater support for women entrepreneurs.

Her statement “Naari tu Narayani” received appreciation. She also highlighted the contribution of women to all the segments of the economy. The Finance Minister suggested setting up a committee of stakeholders from both public and private sector to figure out more ways to empower women and ensure gender equality.

Also Read: Union Budget 2019: Impact on farmers and agriculture sector

Another highlight in this regard is that every woman who is part of a self-help group having a verified Jan Dhan account will get an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000. To encourage more women entrepreneurs, the government has announced a loan of up to Rs 1 lakh. This has cheered many women across the country.

On the education front, the government has planned to sanction an amount of Rs 400 crore towards higher education. India’s higher education system is looking at a transformation under the National Education Policy.

‘Study in India’ is a new programme proposed in the budget today. This is an initiative to bring in students from across the world to study in India.

In addition, the National Research Foundation (NRF) takes the responsibility of funding, coordinating, and assimilating research grants. All ministries of India will coordinate with NRF for development.

Also, the Swayam initiative, an online education programme will be launched to make education more accessible to everyone. Thereby, the Indian education system will get a complete facelift. To realise this, resources from IIT and IISc will pool in and resolve major research and engineering challenges of the nation.