With a focus on education and health, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday rolled out many new initiatives in the budget with these two key sectors witnessing an increase of 6% and 13% in allocation as compared to last year’s revised estimates.
In education, the government announced new initiatives including transforming 100 government senior secondary schools into ‘schools of brilliance’ and making 100 primary government schools into ‘schools of happiness’.
The overall outlay for the next financial year has been proposed at ₹16,987 crore as compared to the revised estimate of ₹16,058 crore in the current financial year.
However, the outlay of ₹16,987 crore for next fiscal is less than the proposed allocation ₹17,072 crore in 2023-2024.
The finance minister said that the allocation for the next fiscal was 11.5% of the total expenditure.
Detailing initiatives in the education sector, Cheema said 118 government schools will undergo a transformation to become state-of-the-art ‘schools of eminence’ and 14 such schools have already been started.
“Under the fresh allocation, the government has budgeted ₹100 crore for ‘School of Eminence’ in FY 2024-25 for this purpose,” the finance minister said.
{{/usCountry}}“Under the fresh allocation, the government has budgeted ₹100 crore for ‘School of Eminence’ in FY 2024-25 for this purpose,” the finance minister said.
{{/usCountry}}The government also proposed to transform 100 government senior secondary schools into “Schools of Brilliance”.
“To start with, an initial allocation of ₹10 crore has been earmarked in FY 2024-25 for this purpose. This scheme aims to elevate education quality and transform these rural schools into centres of learning from classes 6 to 12,” Cheema said.
Another scheme announced in the budget includes ‘School of Applied Learning’ which aims to develop technical skills in students to enable them to earn a livelihood. The budget has allocated ₹10 crore to establish hi-tech vocational labs in 40 schools in the first phase.
Another ₹10 crore has been allocated for the ‘School of Happiness’ to create a nurturing learning environment for young students aged 3 to 11.
“To create a nurturing and learning environment for young students aged three to 11, the government also proposes to transform 100 primary government schools into ‘schools of happiness’. The focus would be on providing well-ventilated classrooms, dedicated play areas, resource rooms and activity corners, Cheema said, adding, initially, 100 primary government schools will upgraded.
14% cut in outlay of technical education
The technical education budget outlay has been fixed at ₹525 crore as compared to ₹615 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal. However, budget highlights provided by the government claim that since ₹481 crore was the revised estimate for the current financial year, budget allocation for technical education has increased by 9%.
10% hike in health sector outlay
The budget outlay for the health sector has been hiked by 10% this year with the government proposing ₹5,264 crore outlay for the next fiscal as compared to ₹4,781 crore for 2023-24. Since the government spent ₹4,646 crore as per revised estimates in the current year, the budget highlights claim 13% increase in the allocation in this sector.
Last year, there was an 11% increase in the budget outlay for this sector. The government, however, has not announced any new schemes in this sector.
An outlay of ₹249 crore has been kept for strengthening the government’s flagship programme— Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs), whereas ₹553 crore has been allocated for Ayushman Bharat-Mukh Mantri Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna. An outlay of ₹20 crore has been kept for the ‘Farishtey’ scheme of helping road accident victims.
For the upgradation of hospitals in the urban areas ₹150 crore has been kept whereas ₹70 crore has been kept for the de-addition programmes.
The government plans to spend ₹100 crore for strengthening rural hospitals and sub-divisional hospitals at Cheema, Kauhrian, Dhuri and SAS Nagar and purchasing 58 new ambulances.
₹1,133 crore for medical education and research
The government has proposed an outlay of ₹1,133 crore for the next financial year with an increase of 11%, as compared to the current year’s outlay of ₹1,033 crores for medical education and research. Since the revised estimate under this sector remained at ₹862 crore, the government is claiming a 31% increase in the budget of this sector.
The finance minister said a sports complex construction at a total cost of ₹110 crore is underway at Government Medical College, Patiala and works on the medical college of 100 MBBS seats each at Mastuana Sahib, Sangrur; Kapurthala; Malerkotla and Hoshiarpur are expected to start in the next financial year. Budget allocation has been made for building a girls’ hostel at Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala.