Union Home Minister P Chidambaram tried to woo Indians with his 8th Union Budget which he presented on Thursday, Feb 28.

In budget 2013 measures for women, child and tribal welfare has been announced by our respectable Finance Minister P Chidambaram. In his speech he proposed that the allocation to health and family welfare ministries will be increased. Further he said, women belonging to the most vulnerable groups, including single women and widows, must be able to live with self-esteem and dignity and added that young women face gender discrimination everywhere, especially at the work place. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has been asked to design schemes that will address these concerns and a sum of Rs. 200 Crore has been provided to begin work in this regard. He said that a number of initiatives were underway and many more would be taken by the Government as well as non-government organizations. Proposal to set up India’s first Women’s Bank as a public sector bank –

Finance Minister P Chidambaram done the following allocation in his speech:-

• Rs. 17700 Crore for child and women welfare representing an increase of 11.7 per cent.
• Rs. 65867 Crore to the education ministry, which is 17% higher than the last year.
• Rs. 13215 Crore for mid day meal scheme will be given.
• Rs. 1000 Crore for setting up of a fund – Nirbhaya Fund – with the Government.
• More than Rs 25000 Crore will be given for tribal welfare in the coming financial year.

Emphasis was put on higher growth and financial strength because as per Chidambaram growth is the important factor for the economic development of the India. He believes that many people will be left behind if attention is not paid to growth sustainability.
He said getting back to high growth rates of over 8-9 percent seen some years ago was the main challenge.