Chidambaram poses questions on Budget to Govt in Rajya Sabha
NEW DELHI: A day after the Union Budget 2024 was presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday posed questions to the government.
Chidambaram, in a speech in the Rajya Sabha, called on the ruling BJP to ensure daily minimum wage of Rs. 400 and provide a legal guarantee for MSP, or minimum support price, a core demand for farmers protesting since 2000.
The Congress veteran also demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government write off the unpaid balance of education loans till March, abolish the contentious ‘Agnipath’ military recruitment scheme, and scrap, for states that do not want it, the NEET exam for entrance to medical courses.
Referring to the schemes in the Union Budget which were proposed by the Congress in its election manifesto, he threw in a jibe at the BJP “please, copy some more.”
“...will be very happy to support you (the BJP), if you take those ideas. Copying is not prohibited in this House... in fact, copying is encouraged and rewarded,” he said amid laughter from opposition MPs.
Referring to unemployment, he said: ``Unemployment is the biggest challenge. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy has estimated the all-India unemployment rate in June 2024 was 9.2 per cent...Now, earlier there was a Production-Linked Incentive scheme (to create jobs). When you introduced an employment-linked scheme... there must have been a reason. I suspect it was because the PLI did not create the kind of jobs you wanted to create...”
“So, will the Finance Minister tell this House... what was the outcome of the PLI? Once we know the outcome... we can look ahead to what can be expected from the ELI.”
In her speech on Tuesday, Sitharaman announced three ELIs, including a five-year industry internship scheme (which the Congress claims was copied) in association with the government. She said these schemes would create jobs - as many as 30 lakh - in the manufacturing sector.
The Congress leader also made reference to multiple news reports about tens of thousands, and even lakhs, of people rushing to apply for limited private sector jobs.
“The Uttar Pradesh Police Department conducted an examination for 60,244 vacancies... 48 lakh persons applied for this examination. It was cancelled a couple of days later. Air India wanted to fill 2,216 vacancies... 25,000 people thronged Mumbai airport for a walk-in interview...” he said.
“And yet, Reserve Bank of India, two-three weeks ago, said ‘there is no jobs crisis in India’. Exact words... ‘No jobs crisis in India’’, Chidambaram said.
The Congress leader said having two income tax regimes is a “bad idea” that will lead to tax arbitration and people will be confused as to which one to choose.
In sops for the middle class, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hiked standard deduction by 50 per cent to Rs 75,000 and tweaked tax slabs under the new income tax regime to provide more money in the hands of salaried class with a view to boost consumption.
