Union Budget 2013: More money for public education, colleges

In the last budget before the next elections, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today chose to focus on the youth and significantly upped the spending on education and schemes that benefit students from disadvantaged groups.The Finance Minister announced that the allocation for Human Resources Development would be increased by 17 percent from the last budget to Rs. 65,867 crore.[caption id="attachment_643168" align="alignleft" width="380"] Screengrab from[/caption]The minister said that thousands of scholarships for students belonging to SC, STs, and disadvantaged classes would be granted.Rs 5,284 crore would be allocated to various ministries for scholarships for SC/ST, OBC and minority students, Chidambaram said.The Finance Minister announced that Rs 4,727 crore would be allocated for medical education and research and Rs 1,069 crore will be given to the Department of Ayush for the development of alternative medicines.