Union Budget 2024: Rs 13,539 cr allocated to social justice department

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has been allocated Rs 13,539 crore in the 2024-2025 budget, an increase of 37 per cent from the 2023-2024 revised estimates of Rs 9,853.32 crore.

This increase is primarily focused on enhancing welfare programmes for marginalised communities and improving infrastructure for social services.

The key areas of funding include Rs 9,549.98 crore for the 'Umbrella Scheme for Development of Scheduled Castes', a significant increase from the Rs 6,780 crore in the previous financial year.

For achieving social justice comprehensively, the saturation approach of covering all eligible people through various programmes, including those for education and health, will be adopted, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday while presenting the 2024-25 Union Budget in Parliament.

She said to ensure inclusive human resource development, a social justice saturation approach will be adopted.

Social justice through the saturation approach refer