The 2017-18 Budget is quite low key when it comes to social spending. The government’s approach to welfare spending appears more focussed on promoting the digital agenda rather than any meaningful increase in social sector allocations. The Mid-Day Meal scheme allocation rose nominally, from ₹9,700 crore to ₹10,000 crore. However, a slew of measures have been announced that seek to bring the social sector under digital purview — either by routing service delivery via digital platforms, or by strengthening digital infrastructure to enable easy monitoring. However, the sole welfare initiative in the education sector was the proposed launch of SWAYAM platform, which would offer 350 online courses.

Source: The Hindu February 01, 2017 22:40 UTC