Union Budget 2026: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman breaks tradition, interacts with students

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman interacted with 30 university students who witnessed the Union Budget 2026–27 presentation live from the Lok Sabha gallery, describing the engagement as a break from the traditional post-Budget media interactions.

On Sunday, speaking at the Youth Dialogue on Budget 2026, Sitharaman said the initiative was conceived by her team as a departure from the routine of giving interviews to newspapers and television studios after the budget speech. “This time my team thought of doing something out of the ordinary, saying, ‘You go after presenting the budget to each one of the studios or each one of the newspapers and give them inter..…’,” she said.

She explained that the team instead proposed inviting college students to Parliament to interact directly with the Finance Minister and share their experience of witnessing the Budget presentation. “Therefore, they thought that they would get in touch with universities and come with a group of students with whom they can do this interaction, and that's how this has worked out... I would certainly like to know from you what the experience of sitting in the parliament and listening to a budget was like,,” she said.

During the interaction, Sitharaman also reflected on India’s transformation over the decades, particularly in the context of opportunities available to today’s youth. “Every now and then, I can tell you what the country I was born in is, what the country I was brought up in is, and what this country is where I am living now. But that India, I wouldn't want any of you all to remember. That's not the India we want anymore in the future for anybody. We want a better India,” she said.

Clarifying her remarks, the Finance Minister said that not everything from the past should be viewed negatively. “I'm not saying everything which happened in the past is bad, but because of the way in which economies grew after coming out of imperialism, our pace of growth, our type of growth, and our type of governance made it delayed. Everything was delayed,” she added.

Earlier in the day, Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026–27 in the Lok Sabha, marking her ninth consecutive Union Budget. She asserted that the Budget is driven by “Yuvashakti” and anchored in “three kartavyas”.

As part of the proposals, the Finance Minister announced plans for seven high-speed rail corridors, new dedicated freight corridors, and the operationalisation of 20 national waterways over the next five years. The Budget outlined a major push for environmentally sustainable passenger transport, with the high-speed rail corridors aimed at cutting travel time, reducing emissions, and supporting regional development.

The proposed high-speed rail routes include Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri, linking financial hubs, technology centres, manufacturing clusters, and emerging cities through faster, cleaner mobility.

The budget also placed emphasis on ecotourism and nature-based travel. Highlighting India’s potential in this sector, Sitharaman said, “India has the potential and opportunity to offer world-class trekking and hiking experiences.” She announced that the government will develop sustainable mountain trails in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in Araku Valley in the Eastern Ghats and Pudigai Malai in the Western Ghats.