The Union Budget presentation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman went on for about one and a half hours before the parliament was adjourned. Here’s a break-up of what the Budget 2023 holds for Gen Z.
Skill Digital India Platform – It enables demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes.
Centres of excellence for artificial intelligence – Three centres for AI to be set up realising the vision of ‘Make AI in India and Make AI Work in India’.
National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme – To provide stipend support to 47 lakh youngsters in three years through Direct Benefit Transfer.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 – On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of the industry.
The Finance minister also had an announcement for kids and adolescents during her Budget presentation. Nirmala Sitharaman declared the setting up of a national digital library for children and adolescents for facilitating the availability of quality books across the country.
“National digital library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility,” she said.
“States will be encouraged to set up libraries for them (children) at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the national digital library’s sources.”
Additionally, to build a culture of reading, and to make up for pandemic-time learning loss, the National Book Trust, the Children’s Book Trust, and other sources would be encouraged to provide and replenish non-curricular titles in regional languages and in English to physical libraries, the minister added.
“Collaboration with NGOs that work in literacy will also be a part of this initiative,” Nirmala Sitharaman said. “To inculcate financial literacy, financial sector regulators and organisations will be encouraged to provide age-appropriate reading material to these libraries.”