A day after the Union Budget was presented in the Parliament, Congress MP and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram raised four major concerns during his speech in the Rajya Sabha.
Chidambaram also reportedly called on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government to ensure legal guarantee for MSP and a daily minimum wage of Rs 400.
He urged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government write off the unpaid balance of education loans till March and scrap the Agnipath recruitment scheme and the NEET exam, for all the states that do not want it.
Chidambaram, according to NDTV, also in reference to his side's manifesto, said, "...will be very happy to support you (the BJP), if you take those ideas. Copying is not prohibited in the House, in fact, copying is encouraged and rewarded."
THE MAJOR CONCERN
Of the issues highlight by the Congress MP, one of the main concerns was unemployment.
"The most significant challenge is unemployment. Data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) indicates that the unemployment rate for June 2024 is 9.2 per cent," he said.
Chidambaram pressed that the primary challenge for the economy is creating sufficient employment opportunities, news agency ANI said.
"Now, earlier there was a Production-linked Incentive scheme for creating 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," he said.
Chidambaram requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to disclose the number of jobs created b the PLI scheme.
He also expressed skepticism about ELI scheme's effectiveness, "It is an inspiring idea, but it does not inspire confidence that you will be able to place 290 lakh people under the ELI scheme as described."
While reading out the Union Budget, Sitharaman announced the implementation of three schemes for ELI as part of the Prime Minister's package.
She said that these schemes will be based on enrolment in the EPFO, focussed on recognising first-time employees and supporting both employers and employees.
Slamming the BJP government, Chidambaram then said, "It should not turn out to be another election jumla, like your two crore jobs promise."
He also questioned the Reserve Bank of India's report claiming that over 4 crore jobs were created in Fiscal Year 2024.
Chidambaram referred to reports of over 50 lakh applications for 60,000 police posts in the Uttar Pradesh Police Department, challenging RBI's assertion that 'there is no job crisis in India'.
"I suggest, sir, unemployment be taken seriously. We will wait for outcome of ELI scheme," the former Finance Minister said in Rajya Sabha.
