New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, Feb 01: Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday called the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament today, "all-pervasive and all-inclusive". The budget will prove to be a stepping stone to make India a developed country by 2047, he added.

The Union Minister also said that states like Odisha will benefit the lion's share from the provisions and announcements made in the Interim Budget for the current fiscal year 2024-25.

Pradhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting a people-oriented, growth-promoting and revolutionary budget. He said that the Modi government is working on the principle of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas and sabka prayas.'

To achieve the goal of a 'Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047, the welfare budget has been presented on a priority basis to the youth, women, farmers and the poor, Minister Pradhan said adding that the budget reflects the roadmap for the coming days. The Modi government's work on all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive development is reflected in the budget, he claimed.

Also Read: Highlights Of Interim Budget 2024-25

With the pursuit of ‘SabkakaSaath’ in these 10 years, the Government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multi-dimensional poverty and the  Government’s efforts are now getting synergized with energy and passion of such empowered people.

The budget has made provisions to improve infrastructure in social, digital and various sectors. East parts of India have always been the priority of the Modi government. Three special corridors namely energy, mineral and cement corridors have been envisioned in the current railway budget.

With a vision to convert  two crore rural women into Lakhpati Didis, around one crore rural women have been made Lakhpati Didis so far. In view of this, the government has planned to take care of three crore Lakhpati Didis.  

PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) is close to achieving the target of three crore houses and two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years.

Similarly, through rooftop solarization, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month.

For Railways, three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented-energy, mineral and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high traffic density corridors.

Sitharaman announced that for our tech savvy youth, this will be a golden era, as a corpus of rupees one lakh crore will be established with fifty-year interest free loan.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages.

In line with Prime Minister Modi's vision of a developed India by 2047, this budget will help harness the full potential of our youth and establish India as a global hub for research, innovation and startups. Similarly, successful implementation of the National Education Policy, promotion of education, skill development and entrepreneurship sector with PM Shri School will fulfill the aspirations of the youth.

Also Read: Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha & Bengal To Be Engines Of Growth: Sitharaman

As many as seven IITs, 16 IIITs, seven IIMs have been established in the country in the last 10 years. As many as 13 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up across the country. This shows that the Modi government has given priority to broad infrastructure in the field of education, Pradhan said.

From 'Viksit Bharat Budget' brings together the power of youth and technology. This budget further energizes our journey towards a developed India and will contribute to India's technological and sustainable future, Pradhan said.