The Narendra Modi government on Saturday substantially increased its fund allocations for skill trainings and livelihood programmes in the Union Budget 2025-26 as part of its ambitious target of having 100% skilled labour with meaningful employment in the country. People line up to apply for jobs at a Job Fair. (Hindustan Times) Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s eighth budget focussed on employment generation and skill development as key areas — themes that also dominated her previous budgets.The minister announced a slew of schemes to boost employment; as a consequence, the skill development ministry’s annual budget, particularly the revenue expenses of its skill programmes, saw a manifold rise. ALSO READ | Income tax salary-wise details: How to calculate tax if salary is over ₹12.75 lakh The main allocation was made on upgrading ITIs or Industrial Training Institutes that started in the 1950s to give vocational training to young people and help create a skilled workforce. From a mere ₹294 crore in the revised estimates of FY25, the “new ITI upgradation” programme was allocated ₹3,000 crore in the …