Budget 2026-27: ‘Tourism can go from threat to tool for empowerment’ Premium

Explore how the 2026-27 Budget positions tourism as a tool for empowerment amidst environmental and tribal representation challenges.

How eco-friendly is the Union Budget? If you listened to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech 2026-27, you would have encountered precisely three references of the word “environment”: one is in the context of trade and multilateralism; environmentally sustainable movement of cargo; and environmentally sustainable passenger systems (where seven high-speed rail corridors will be established between cities as ‘growth connectors’). Climate change draws a blank, as do air pollution and Nicobar’s development status.

But the budget document however indicated that the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change received a larger sum than it did last year, of Rs. 3759.46 crore, with a substantial chunk allocated predictably to ‘charismatic’ large mammals: Project Tiger and Project Elephant. The tourism sector, meanwhile, received Rs. 2,438 crore, with plans to invest in trekking and tourism trails in natural areas.

Inscrutably, the budget also said the Ministry is responsible for conserving, protecting and promoting “sustainable development” in the islands of Andaman and Nicobar and the Lakshadweep. In light of these announcements, The Hindu spoke to Anuja Malhotra,policy manager at the Centre for Policy Design, ATREE, Bengaluru, about how environment and tribal people are represented in the budget.

The Budget 2026-27 speaks of a Rs. 20,000 crore scheme to scale up carbon capture, storage and utilisation across five high-emitting industrial sectors. Is that an adequate step to mitigate climate change? Would you have hoped for more targeted intervention?

The Rs. 20,000 crore allocation for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) over five years targets power, steel, cement, refineries, and chemicals sectors, India’s major emission sources. The Budget’s recognition of CCUS reflects an awareness of the challenges India faces in decarbonising heavy industry.

But this represents a technological fix rather than a systemic transition. Going forward, it will be important to ensure that CCUS is deployed as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, emissions reduction.