Budget 2019: Key takeaways for skill development, education, entrepreneurship and livelihood enablement

Budget 2019, presented by the Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, reiterated the government’s focus skill development, reforms in education and research and facilitating an ecosystem for entrepreneurial growth in India. With the driving message that “Indian economy will become $3 trillion economy in this year itself. It is now 5th largest in the world and in purchasing power parity terms, it is the third largest, behind only U.S. and China”, the minister emphasized on rural and social entrepreneurship through ease of doing business for farmers and a host of initiatives to skill and empower traditional artisans to contribute to the economic growth, with Gaon, Garib and Kisan being the center of all efforts.

Budget 2019 Increase in allocations to skill development

“According to the ministry data, the allocation to the department was Rs 3,400 crore (budget estimate) in 2018-19. The ministry data suggests that the government has allocated Rs 2,989 crore to the department for 2019-20, compared to the revised estimate of Rs 2,820 crore in the last fiscal. It had, however, planned for Rs 3,400 crore in the last fiscal, meaning the ministry eventually spent roughly Rs 600 crore less than was allocated to it. The government is looking to formulate a National Policy for Reskilling and Upskilling for creating industry responsive workforce.” Source: MoneyControl

• Improve the skills of 10 million youth through industry relevant training in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics, IOT, VR, 3D Printing, through PMKVY
• Focus in as per global standards in skill based training for international markets, with language training being an important requirement.
• 80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries
• 100 new clusters in bamboo, honey, Khadi, etc to be set up in 2019-20 under SFURTI, which will enable 50,000 artisans to join the economic value chain
• Launch of mission for traditional artisans to access national and international markets
• Robust fisheries management framework to be set up under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana to address critical gaps in value chain; Fishing and Fishermen communities are closely aligned with farming and are crucial to rural India
• 10000 new farmer producer organizations to work with state governments through eNAM

Education, research and sports education

• New National Educational Policy to be brought in to transform Indian educational system; major changes in higher as well as school system to be brought in
• Changes in school and higher education , better governance research and innovation, National Research Foundation (NRF) to be set by assimilating grants from various ministries,
• Swayam – MOOCs for giving access to higher education by bridging the digital divide
• Alllocation Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education institutions in FY20.
• Study in India – bring foreign students in India, regulatory system will be reformed
• National Sports Education Board for development of sportspersons to be set up under Khelo India
• Khelo India scheme – sports as an integral part of education, National Sports Education Board would be set up

Startups, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurs

• Electronic Fundraising Platform, a social stock exchange, to be set up to list social enterprises and voluntary organizations working for social welfare objectives
• To further encourage women entrepreneurship, Women SHG Interest Subvention Programme to be expanded to all districts in India
• One woman in every SHG shall be made eligible for a loan of 1 lakh rupees under MUDRA scheme
• An exclusive TV channel for start ups, to be designed and run by startups
• The startups and investors who file requisite declarations will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of valuation of share premium. A mechanism of e-verification will be put in place and with this, the funds raised by startups will not require any tax scrutiny.

MSMEs and informal sector

• Multiple labour laws to be streamlined to into a set of four Labour Codes, to standardize registration and filing of returns and reduce disputes
• Pension benefit to be extended to around 3 crore retail traders and shopkeepers with an annual turnover less than 1.5 crores under Pradhan Mantri Karam Yogi Man Dhan Scheme

Make in India and industry initiatives

• Scheme to be launched to invite global companies to transparent competitive bidding, to set up mega manufacturing plants in sunrise and advanced tech areas such as solar electric charging infra and computer servers
• Envision India to become the global manufacturing hub of electric vehicles
• Opening up of FDI in Aviation, Media, Animation AVGC and insurance to be examined, in consultation with stakeholders
• PMGSY Industrial corridors Dedicated freight corridors Bharatmala Sagarmala Jal Marg vikas UDAN schemes

(The above points are compiled from the live telecast and PIB tweets)