Proceedings of Parliament | Opposition parties and BJP MPs are constantly fighting in the Rajya Sabha about the economic situation

On the second day of the short-lived debate on economic status in the Rajya Sabha on December 6, the opposition and the treasury benches used statistics to counter each other.

The issue was debated for about 7 hours over two days and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will respond to the debate on Thursday.

Initiating the debate, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien asked leader Jagdeep Dhankar to postpone the reply as most of the opposition leaders were going to Hyderabad to attend the inauguration of the new government in Telangana. Mr. Thankar said that he would consider the request.

SP leader Ramgopal Yadav began his speech by saying that he felt like they were „from another world” after listening to the BJP members. Prof. Yadav asked the ministers to stop reading what is written on papers and understand people’s problems. He said inequality has increased because promises like piped water and toilets for all have not been fulfilled. Referring to the Centre’s pet scheme Ujjwala, he said, beneficiaries are struggling to afford a second cylinder.

’Unemployment rate is very low’

BJP’s Mahesh Jethmalani asked the opposition parties to look at the growth rate and said higher growth would solve problems like unemployment and inflation. “Full recovery of jobs in urban areas is very important. The unemployment rate recorded in the April-June quarter of 2023 was the lowest in five years. From 2017-18 to 2019-20, regular wage/salaried employees increased by 1.5 crore, a growth of 13.2 per cent. The increase in females was 0.72 crore or 29.4 per cent and that of males was 0.79 crore or 8.8 per cent,” he said.

DMK’s P. Wilson said the central government did not support the development efforts of the states despite collecting high taxes and levies. He said that even the issues like construction and maintenance of highways were not taken care of despite letters from the Chief Minister. “Make-in-India, Startup India, demonetisation and GST regime have failed. The policies have weakened the institutions and the economy and these are shining examples of how India’s economy is,” he said.