Budget 2024-25 : The Narendra Modi government at the Center has set a target of 5 trillion (lakh crore) dollars for the Indian economy in 2025. In an event in November last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the Indian economy will be worth 5 trillion dollars by 2025. For this, fast growth of the economy is necessary. The government is trying to increase the pace of GDP growth. The government has increased capital expenditure for this. The private sector has also been advised to increase capital expenditure. The government has announced many schemes like PLI. The government believes that the PLI scheme will help in increasing investment. Good results have been seen. Experts believe that along with these measures, the government needs to increase investment in education. Education budget will have to be increased in the Union Budget. Currently, government expenditure on education is only 2.9 percent of GDP.
Education budget was increased by 8 percent in Budget 2023.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had allocated Rs 1.12 lakh crore for the education sector in the Union Budget on February 1, 2023. This included allocation of secondary education, higher education as well as education related schemes. This allocation was about 8 percent more than a year ago. The National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP) states that at least 6 percent of GDP should be spent on education. Accordingly, the government's expenditure on education is very low. The budget for school education was increased by 8 percent in the Union Budget 2023.
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Self employment opportunities for educated youth
Experts say that increasing the allocation on education sector will help in achieving the target of Rs 5 trillion economy soon. The government needs to increase expenditure on school education as well as improve its quality. This will help in making the youth employable. With this the youth will be able to start self-employment. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that increasing the allocation for education will help in transforming India into a 'knowledge based economy'. For this, the focus will have to be on improving school education in remote areas of the country. At present, the infrastructure facilities related to schools are not good especially in rural areas. Besides, the quality of education is also bad.
Currently the economy is worth 3.63 trillion dollars
The pace of the economy will increase as educated youth get self-employment opportunities. In the Union Budget 2023, India's nominal GDP was estimated to reach Rs 301.75 lakh crore. It was said that the GDP in the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 272.41 lakh crore. With 10.5 percent growth, it was estimated to reach Rs 301 lakh crore in the financial year 2023-24. This is equivalent to Rs 3.63 lakh crore in US dollars. On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had said that the Indian economy will grow from $ 3.5 trillion in the financial year 2022-23 to more than $ 5 trillion in the financial year 2026-27.
