<h1>Child budget allocations see only marginal increase while overall share and spending priorities for protection decline.</h1> The Union Budget 2025-26 records a marginal increase in the child budget allocation while the child budget's share of overall spending and of GDP continues to decline. Education receives the largest allocations with increases for Samagra Shiksha and PM SHRI Schools, health and nutrition show small rises but vaccine funding fell, and child protection allocations are minimal with the National Child Labour Project discontinued. Reports flag major cuts to minority scholarships, uneven fund utilisation, and recurrent downward revisions at the Revised Estimate stage.