Union Budget 2022: The Union Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for the year 2022 in the Parliament today, on February 1, 2022. While outlining the highlights of the Union Budget 2022, Minister Sitharaman announced to reorient partnership with industry and skilling programmes, in order to ramp up employability, sustainability and promote continuous skilling avenues. She further stated that the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) will be lined up with the dynamic needs of the industry.
Some major takeaways from Union Budget 2022 have been described herewith.
  1. Formation of Digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood: Minister Sitharaman announced the launch of the online portal DESH-Stack, which aims to provide online training to citizens in order to help them skill, reskill and upskill and thus, empower them. In addition to this, its objective also includes providing API-based trusted skill credentials, discovery and payment layers to assist people in finding relevant job and entrepreneurial opportunities.
  2. Establishment of start-ups to be promoted: Secondly, Minister Sitharaman reflected on promoting the new initiative titled 'Drone Shakti', whose aim is to commercialize the use of drones in various different industries. She asserted that the establishment of start-ups will facilitate the promotion of drone Technology. She added that in the ITIs located in all Indian states, courses to upskill people about the same will also be initiated.
  3. Laying of Digital University: Citing the digital divide witnessed massively across the country during the Covid-19 era, Minister Sitharaman informed that a digital university will be established to impart quality education and a personalized learning experience to the students across the country. She went on to inform that the medium of instruction for the university will encompass options of different Indian languages and ICT formats. It is noteworthy that the university will be built on a networked hub-spoke model. This initiative will also witness the collaboration of numerous public universities and institutions in the country.
  4. Introduction of One Class-One TV Channel programmes: Sitharaman further announced that PM e-vidya channel's reach will expand further, as 200 new channels will be introduced on the same line. All these channels will provide supplementary education to the students of Class 1 to 12 in their respective regional languages. Additionally, 750 virtual Science and Mathematics laboratories as well as 75 skilling e-labs will also be set up, which will pave the way for simulated learning of students.
  5. Ramping up Urban planning courses in India: Aiming to inculcate outstanding knowledge and skills in terms of design and urban planning in India, five existing academic institutions in various regions will be designated as centres of excellence. An endowment fund of Rs 250 crore will be provided to each of these centres. Moreover, AICTE will ensure to improve the syllabus, quality and access to urban planning courses in other institutions.