Content creation to be taught in 15,000 schools, 500 colleges:Special SHE-Marts for women shopkeepers; know who got what in Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, described technology and innovation as the biggest engine of a ‘Viksit Bharat’. The Budget announced plans to generate employment for 10 lakh people in the gaming sector and to open labs in schools and colleges to train young people in content creation. It also proposed dedicated SHE-Marts for women, while retaining the PMKS assistance for farmers at ₹6,000 per year. Let us see what announcements were made for different categories of people… Youth With the support of the Indian Institute of Creative Technology, Mumbai, Content Creator Labs will be set up in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. Children and young people will be taught content creation such as making reels, videos and animation. In the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (ABGC) sector, 20 lakh youth will get jobs by 2030. Five new townships will be developed, where students will get opportunities to work in companies alongside their studies. This will make young people ‘corporate-ready’. ₹12.2 lakh crore will be spent to strengthen internet connectivity and digital networks. A ₹10,000 crore fund will be created to provide loans to gaming start-ups. More than 10 lakh professionals will be hired. 10,000 new tech fellowships will be launched in IITs and IISc, with a focus on research in AI and deep-tech. Three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda will be established. Four telescope infrastructure facilities will be set up to promote astrophysics and astrology. A National Institute of Hospitality will be established to prepare students directly for jobs in the service industry. A 12-week hybrid training course will be run at 20 major tourist sites across the country. This will upskill 10,000 tourist guides. A National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid will be established. This will create job opportunities for local researchers, historians and content creators. Women To promote businesswomen, Self Help Entrepreneur (SHE) Marts will be established. These will have retail shops run by women shopkeepers from regional communities. One girls’ hostel will be built in every district of the country. This will allow students from remote areas to spend more time on labs and research, thereby increasing participation in higher education. A special fund will be created to promote women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Budget allocation has been increased to further strengthen infrastructure and CCTV networks for women’s safety. Special Ayurvedic care centres will be opened for women’s health. Salaried People There has been no change in income tax slabs and rates. In 2025, income up to ₹12 lakh was made tax-free. Under the new tax regime, the standard deduction remains at ₹75,000. The mandatory wage limit for Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) has been increased from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000. An ‘Education to Employment and Enterprises’ committee will be formed. This committee will assess the impact of AI and other emerging technologies on jobs and give recommendations. A ₹10,000 crore fund will be created to support small entrepreneurs (SMEs). Farmers To modernise agriculture, a multilingual AI tool ‘Bharat Vistaar’ will be launched. This tool will provide farmers with information on farming practices, weather updates and crop stock in their own language. In the next one year, data of 6 crore farmers and their land will be included in a ‘digital registry’. Special incentives will be provided to boost coconut production, scientific cultivation of sandalwood, and the farming of almonds, walnuts, cashew and cocoa in hilly areas. Over the next two years, 1 crore farmers will be trained and certified in natural farming. For this, 10,000 centres will be set up across the country. Crop storage capacity will be developed nationwide to prevent wastage of produce. The budget for fisheries has been increased to ₹2,352 crore. A ‘credit-linked subsidy’ scheme will be launched to promote start-ups in dairy and animal husbandry. The annual assistance of ₹6,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme has been retained. This will continue to benefit 11.8 crore farmers. Now let us see what announcements were made for different sectors in Budget 2026 – 1. Medical and Health Customs duty has been removed on 17 cancer medicines. Medicines used for seven rare diseases, including haemophilia, will also become cheaper. Three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda will be opened in the country. National Mental Health Care centres will be launched in Ranchi in Jharkhand and Tezpur in Assam. An allocation of ₹10,000 crore has been announced for the ‘Biopharma Shakti Scheme’. Through this, India will be developed as a biopharma hub over the next five years. Three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research will be set up. More than one lakh health workers will be trained in these institutes. To promote India as a medical tourism destination, five regional medical hubs will be developed in different states. The Centre will support states for this. Emergency and trauma centres will be opened in district hospitals across the country, increasing hospital capacity by more than 50%. 2. For the Armed Forces The armed forces have been allocated a total of ₹7.8 lakh crore, about ₹1.04 lakh crore more than last year. This is the highest allocation in the last nine years. ₹3.6 lakh crore has been allocated for salaries and ₹1.71 lakh crore for pensions. This means around 68% of the total defence budget will be spent on salaries and pensions. For salaries, the Army has received the highest allocation of ₹2.43 lakh crore, the Air Force ₹63,000 crore, and the Navy around ₹47,000 crore. The capital budget stands at ₹2.19 lakh crore, which is 21% higher than the previous budget. Most of this will be used for the purchase of weapons. Out of the capital budget, around ₹64,000 crore will be spent on aircraft and aircraft engines, while ₹25,000 crore will be allocated for naval warships. 3. For Railways The Railways have been allocated a total of ₹2.81 lakh crore this year. Last year, the budget was ₹2.55 lakh crore. This marks an increase of around 10%. Seven new high-speed railway corridors will be built in the country. These corridors will connect Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri. 4. For Infrastructure A total capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore has been earmarked for infrastructure this time, about ₹1 lakh crore more than last year. Capital expenditure refers to spending that generates long-term revenue. It is used for projects such as building roads, overbridges, schools and hospitals. To transport goods, 20 new waterways will be developed across the country. The government will build a new freight corridor to connect Dankuni in West Bengal with Surat.