Context:
The Union Budget 2025-26 presents significant measures to promote tourism as a driver of employment-led growth and preserve India’s rich cultural heritage.
Key Announcements
Tourism as an Employment Sector
- Skill Development
- Intensive training programs will be organized for youth, with a focus on hospitality management.
- Homestay through MUDRA Loans
- Fund will be arranged for homestays, and this way, small scale tourism ventures would be encouraged.
- Facilitating Tourism connectivity
- Ease of travel and connecting tourists to other destinations will be enhanced.
- E-visa Facilities
- The e-Visa will be streamlined with the intention to ease international tourism.
- Performance-based Incentives
- There will be an incentive scheme depending on the performances of states to boost tourism.
Development of Main Tourist Sites
- 50 Top Destinations
- The top 50 tourist places in India are to be developed in a challenge mode with the states.
- State Supported Infrastructure
- The states will support the country by giving the land for infrastructure projects, like hotels included in the infrastructure HML.
- Spiritual and Religious Destinations
- Special thrust will be on spiritual and religious destinations, particularly Lord Buddha-related destinations.
- Medical Tourism
- Medical tourism will be promoted under the “Heal in India” initiative, with private sector partnerships, capacity building, and simplified visa norms.
Gyan Bharatam Mission
- Preservation of Knowledge Heritage
- The documentation and conservation of India’s manuscript heritage will be undertaken in collaboration with academic institutions, museums, and private collectors.
- National Digital Repository
- A National Digital Repository of Indian knowledge systems will be created to facilitate knowledge sharing.
Conclusion
The Budget supports tourism development, with the aim of generating huge employment and promoting both domestic and international tourism while sustaining cultural preservation through the Gyan Bharatam Mission. An integrated approach will thus be undertaken, leveraging rich history, spiritual tourism, and expanding medical tourism sectors of India for sustainable growth.
12. Union Budget 2025-26: Vision for ‘Sabka Vikas’ and Balanced Growth
Context:
Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman focused on India’s growth trajectory and highlighted the singular opportunity of the next five years for the realization of the vision of ‘Sabka Vikas’.
Key Highlights of the Budget
India’s Growth Potential
- Fastest-Growing Economy
- India remains the fastest major global economy growing, and their last 10 years of structural reforms have always been under strict global focus.
- Global Confidence
- There has been a great development in global confidence about the country’s capabilities and its potential as it has always placed it high on the global map.
Accelerating Growth & Inclusive Development
- The budget from the union will target inclusive development based on balanced growth in all sections, which is that the fruit of the economy reaches the people from each sector.
- For boosting private investment, augmenting the consumption power of the household economy, and changing the optimism of India’s rising middle class.
Four Growth Drivers
- The four potent growth drivers outlined in Union Budget 2025-26 are Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment and Exports. This budget will usher in transformative reforms in the following six critical areas regarding:
- Taxation
- Power Sector
- Urban Development
- Mining
- Financial Sector
- Regulatory Reforms
Vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’
- Inclusivity will take India’s development path towards:-
- Zero-poverty
- Quality school education for all
- Affordable healthcare
- Skilled labour and gainful employment
- Women’s economic participation (70% women in economic activities)
- Farmers are a part of the ‘status of India as the ‘food basket of the world’.
Ten Key Development Measures
- The FM mooted 10 broad areas that are to be in focus in the years ahead:
- Agricultural Growth & Productivity Rural Prosperity
- Resilience Inclusive Growth Manufacturing
- Make in India
- MSME Support
- Employment-led Development
- Investment in People
- Economy & Innovation
- Energy Supply Security
- Promotion of Exports
- Nurturing Innovation
Conclusion
This bold commitment towards developing a Viksit Bharat by the Union Budget 2025-26 rests on inclusivity, empowerment, and innovation towards sustainable growth. The speech of the Finance Minister once again highlights the need for nurturing all sectors and regions in order to balance, make equal, and benefit in the long run.
