Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced to set up 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools in the next five years.
This initiative has been taken to cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation and foster a scientific temper among young minds.
The Union Budget also proposes to provide broadband connectivity to all government secondary schools and primary health centres in rural areas under the BharatNet project.
In the higher education sector, the Union Budget 2025-26 says that the total number of students in 23 IITs has increased 100 per cent from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh in the past 10 years.
While presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 in Parliament on Saturday, Finance Minister Sitharaman said that additional infrastructure will be created in the five IITs started after 2014 to facilitate education for 6,500 more students.
Hostel and other infrastructure capacity at IIT, Patna will also be expanded.
To help students understand their subjects better, FM Sitharaman has proposed to implement a Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme to provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education.
The Union Finance Minister also announced to setting up of five National Centres of Excellence for skilling with global expertise and partnerships to equip youth with the skills required for "Make for India, Make for the World" manufacturing.
The partnerships will cover curriculum design, training of trainers, a skills certification framework, and periodic reviews.
The Union Budget also announced setting up a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore.
While presenting the Union Budget, FM Sitharaman announced the allocation of Rs 20,000 crore to implement private sector-driven research, development and innovation.
In the next five years, under the PM Research Fellowship scheme, the provision of 10,000 fellowships for technological research in IITs and IISc with enhanced financial support is also proposed in the Budget.
Finance Minister Sitharaman has also proposed various development measures for nurturing innovation.
Sachin Tendulkar honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at BCCI Naman Awards 2025
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) honoured exceptional achievements in Indian cricket at the prestigious Naman Awards here on Saturday. A historic moment of the evening was the presentation of the coveted Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award to Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar,
Budget 2025-26 to boost incomes of street vendors, spruce up cities
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced the setting up of a Rs 1 lakh crore fund for the development of cities and a revamp of the Prime Minister Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) to enhance the earnings of street vendors as part of her Budget proposals.
Eight MLAs who quit AAP join BJP, a blow for Kejriwal’s party before Delhi polls
With just four days to go before the Delhi Assembly elections on February 5, eight legislators who resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
80 patrols conducted along India-B'desh border, 40 village meetings held: BSF
Maintaining full cooperation with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), India's Border Security Force (BSF) has conducted nearly 80 simultaneous coordinated patrols along the India-Bangladesh frontiers in the recent past, officials said here on Saturday.
In true 'Vishwa Bandhu' spirit, India allocates Rs 5,483 crore for foreign aid in Union Budget 2025
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has allocated Rs 5,483 crore for aid to foreign nations, slightly higher than last year's Rs 4,883 crore, it was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday.
200 new Vande Bharat trains, 100 Amrit Bharat trains in next 2-3 years: Ashwini Vaishnaw
Calling the Union Budget 2025-26 "amazing", Union Railways and Electronics and IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that with the big allocation to it, Indian Railways is all set to expand faster, safer and comfortable rail travel across the country.
Israel releases 183 Palestinian prisoners in latest swap with Hamas
Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday in the fourth prisoner-for-hostage swap under the ongoing truce deal with Hamas, according to Palestinian sources.
Union Budget 2025: Higher education budget witnesses over 7 pc rise
In one of the visionary moves, the Union government increased the higher education budget on Saturday by 7.74 per cent, marking a significant rise from Rs 46,482.35 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 50,077.95 crore in 2025-26.