Meagre increase in S&T allocation

Even as Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan on Thursday termed the Union Budget 2018-19 a "historic budget" that caters to the interests of every section of the society, some of the departments under his ministry saw a marginal increase in allocation.

The Department of Science and Technology was allocated Rs 5,114.78 crore, an increase of around Rs 388 crore over the Revised Estimate of Rs 4,726.71 crore in 2017-18.

The Department of Biotechnology got Rs 2,411.53 crore, an increase of Rs 151 crore over the Revised Estimate of Rs 2,260.11 crore in 2017-18.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was allocated Rs 4,795.97 crore - up Rs 167 crore from Rs 4,629.7 crore in the Revised Estimate in 2017-18.

Thus the three departments together saw an increase of a little over Rs 700 crore.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences was allocated Rs 1,800 crore in Budget 2018-19 against the Revised Estimate of Rs 1,597.6 crore in 2017-18, an increase of Rs 233 crore.

But the Budget doubled the allocation on "Digital India" programme to Rs. 3,073

crore in 2018-19.

"Budget 2018 - I thank #PrimeMinisterNarendra Modiji and #FinanceMinisterArunJaitleyji for this historic budget. This is an all-inclusive budget and interests of every section of the society has been taken care of," Vardhan said in a tweet.

Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Department of Science and Technology will launch a mission on "Cyber Physical Systems" to support establishment of centres of excellence for research, training and skilling in robotics, artificial intelligence, digital manufacturing, big data analysis, quantum communication and Internet of Things.

--IANS

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