What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Congress general secretary says the budget fails to address concerns related to unemployment, price hike
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Wednesday called the Union Budget 2023 an eyewash. He said the budget does not address the crucial issues of unemployment and price hike in the country.
Venugopal questioned the “fancy” schemes and demanded answers regarding their implementation. According to him, in the past too, the budget did not perform as expected.
Reacting to the budget, Venugopal said, “This government will announce so many things that are going to be fancy and look good, but what is the implementation path? You can verify the budget performance from last time.”
“Now the country is facing serious unemployment issues. Was there anything to address that issue? Is there anything addressing the price hike?” The senior Congress leader said.
“The common people are stressing that there is no serious effort from the government side to address the common people. If you look at the PM Kisan Yojana, who has benefited from that? Only insurance companies. That is what the government data is also saying. These are all eyewashes for the upcoming elections,” he said.
In her budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Investments in infrastructure and productive capacity have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment. After the subdued period of the pandemic, private investments are growing again. The budget takes the lead once again to ramp up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation.”
In addition to investments in infrastructure, one hundred labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions to realise a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential. The labs will cover, among others, applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and health care applications, said Sitharaman.
Regarding unemployment, Sitharaman also said technology-and innovation-driven lab-grown diamonds (LGD) are an emerging sector with high employment potential. These environment-friendly diamonds have, optically and chemically, the same properties as natural diamonds. To encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency, a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years.
