Where the Budget places disability

The Union Budget has a way of looking at things.

- AYUSHI SINGH

It sees growth in percentages, ambition in acronyms, futures in sectors still warming up, and stability in schemes. It also carries a memory of how certain groups have traditionally appeared in its pages.For a long time, disability entered the Budget largely through welfare and concession. Assistance was framed as support. The disabled citizen appeared at the edge of economic life, acknowledged but rarely integrated into its forward-looking narratives.

In the 2026-27 Union Budget, disability is spoken about in the language of inclusive growth. When divyangjan appear, they do so less as beneficiaries and more as participants. The emphasis is on skilling, employment and integration into sunrise sectors. The verbs are confident and futuristic: Enable, upskill, employ.

For context, Census 2011 records disability at just over 2 percent of India’s population, a figure widely understood to understate the reality. Labour force participation among persons with disabilities remains far lower than the national average. Against this backdrop, the Budget’s emphasis on work signals how inclusion is now being imagined.