As the country’s collective attention is focused on the 2022 Budget, we at Embassy are eager to see some much-needed policies in the fields of education and health come into place. The finance minister began on a hopeful note by saying that India’s economic growth is estimated to be at 9.27 percent in FY22, highest among all large economies.
Considering the heightened need for more emphasis on training and skill development, we are happy to note that the government will be reorienting Skilling programs and launching a digital DESH e-portal for the skilling, upskilling and reskilling of India’s youth. With over 12 million people joining the Indian workforce annually, these measures will surely strengthen the next generation of blue and white-collar employees and contribute to the growth of the Indian economy through an upskilled workforce.
As schools shut down time and again to keep the virus at bay, children, particularly those from underprivileged communities, have lost almost two years of education – the pandemic has had an untold adverse impact on the education system. We are pleased to hear that to provide supplementary education and build a resilient mechanism for education delivery, the government will set up a digital university to provide students access to education. The ‘One class, one TV channel’ programme under PM e-Vidya will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels and allow states to provide education to students of classes 1-12 in regional languages.
The budget also includes improved access to healthcare with an open platform for the national digital health ecosystem to be rolled out, along with the launch of a National tele-medicine programme. This go a long way to improving access to healthcare for people in various communities, including those in remote areas.
Considering our current climate crisis, The Jal Jeevan Mission that was launched in August 2019 to provide safe drinking water to all rural households by 2024, has been allocated 60,000 crores in the 2022 Budget. The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide potable water to 3.8 crore households in 2022-23. The budget also includes funds for a Solar push; to boost domestic manufacturing of solar power equipment and subsequently benefit solar power generators. It’s heartening to see these steps taken towards a more sustainable future. We look forward to seeing our country reach greater heights with the aid of these provisions that the 2022 Budget provides.”
