Union Budget 2025 gives a boost to women’s welfare and entrepreneurship

The Union Budget 2025-26 largely focused on improving welfare programmes and financial incentives for the poor, youth, farmers and women, with development measures spanning 10 broad areas.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled an enhancement in financial support for the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 schemes, which focus on improving nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.

The Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 integrated nutrition support programme was sanctioned by the Government of India for implementation during the 15th Finance Commission period, spanning 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The revised estimate for 2024-25 under the Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 scheme is Rs 20,070.90 crore, compared to the initial Budget 2024-25 allocation of Rs 21,200 crore. For the 2025-26 financial year, the budgeted estimate has been set at Rs 21,960 crore.

The increased financial support aims to strengthen the infrastructure and services of Anganwadi centres, to ensure better delivery of nutrition and early childhood education. The initiatives will provide essential nutritional assistance to over 8 crore children, 1 crore pregnant and lactating women, and 20 lakh adolescent girls, with a particular focus on aspirational districts and the northeastern region.

The FM also unveiled a new initiative targeting first-time entrepreneurs among women, as well as those from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). This scheme aims to support 5,00,000 such entrepreneurs by providing term loans of up to Rs 2 crore over the next five years. Drawing inspiration from the successful Stand-Up India scheme, the programme will also offer online capacity-building sessions to enhance entrepreneurial and managerial skills.

In addition, the government plans to set up daycare cancer centres in every district hospital across the country over the next three years. In 2025-26 alone, 200 such centres will be established, the FM said.