Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, while addressing the Union Budget in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, made five key demands, including higher floor wages and guaranteed crop prices.
Although the government has painted a rosy picture about the economy, people are not feeling „much growth” due to high unemployment and inflation, he said.
Chidambaram, on behalf of his party, the Congress, said he would demand an increase in the daily national minimum wage for all jobs. ₹400 and provide a statutory guarantee for centrally fixed ground prices for crops.
He also demanded the cancellation of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to government medical colleges, which was embroiled in controversy due to the question paper leak this year. At least states that don’t want NEET should be exempted, he said.
Among other demands, Chidambaram said the government should withdraw the Agnibad scheme, which provides for a 4-year tenure in the defense forces. Unpaid education loans should be waived till March 2024, he said.
„You might think these demands would die down, but they only resonate within this chamber and the country,” he said.
Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar were present when Chidambaram spoke.
The Congress MP said that in this year’s budget speech, the finance minister failed to mention the words Tamil Nadu, where he was born and educated, and did not quote any great poet from the state like Thiruvalluvar.
“I don’t hate the plans for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. But what about other states? Pick and choose it will sound the death knell for federalism. How were the states of Andhra and Bihar before April and in the last 10 years?
The Congress leader accused the government of „not taking inflation very seriously” and questioned the RBI’s claim that there was „no job crisis”.
“The RBI should be cautious, conservative and neutral. It is cautious, conservative but not neutral.
Chidambaram says the new employee-linked incentive schemes, productivity-based incentive schemes have failed to create jobs.
Chidambaram cited an example from Madhya Pradesh, where 11,000 candidates, including engineers and MBAs, applied for 15 low-skilled government jobs. „It is sad that the applicants include those who appeared for the post of judge in Madhya Pradesh.” In UP, 2.4 million people applied for 7,000 openings, he said.
The Economic Survey said inflation was „low, stable and moving towards the 4% target”, Chidambaram said. „It has been moving towards the target for a long time, but when will it reach its target? If inflation is low, why did the RBI not cut the benchmark rate of 6.5% for 13 months?
Chidambaram said the government should disclose the deflator used to estimate inflation-adjusted GDP growth. A deflator accounts for the change in price levels between two time periods.
The government adopted a deflator that has been heavily criticized, “If you take a deflator below 1.7%, you get 9.2% GDP growth, if you take 0.5%, you even cross 10%. .”
„People will feel more growth only if there are lots of goods and services, lots of investment and people’s pockets with coins and coins,” he said.