The Budget seems to be a well balanced with emphasis on education, health and employment. The government has shown foresight by provisioning to keep the banks and insurance under public sector control under the present recessionary scenario. The emphasis on the social sector development is in line with the government’s mantra of inclusive growth. Special emphasis on education is a welcome step. The provision for the Scheme ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ has been increased to Rs 900 crore and will create a better talent flow in the years to come. The speed of progress —in talent assessment, training needs analysis for a range of services sectors including IT and development of a new technology architecture which would support learner centric education by connecting campuses, content specialists and the student community will now be possible by the up-gradation for Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission for which allocations have also been increased.

The enhancement of overall Plan Budget for higher education by Rs 2,000 crore over interim budget estimates and allocation of Rs 2,113 crore for IITs and NITs is just one of many initiatives our country needs—especially in J&K, North East, and other states to reduce digital divide. New projects such as modernisation of the employment exchanges and unique identification card with public private partnership also focuses on efficiency of delivery of government programmes and is an important step in ushering greater transparency in public decision-making process.