Initiating the discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25 in the Rajya Sabha, P Chidambaram said that he was particularly happy that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took the opportunity to read out the Congress manifesto. He said that the Finance Minister has taken good ideas from pages 11, 30 and 31 of the Congress manifesto. P Chidambaram asked the Finance Minister to consider and implement the five demands.
1. The minimum wage for any work should be Rs 400 per day.
2. To provide legal guarantee of MSP to farmers.
3. Waiver of interest and outstanding instalments of education loan till March 2024.
4. To completely end the Agniveer scheme.
5. States which do not have NEET for medical entrance exam should abolish it. If some states want to continue it, other states should be exempted from it.
P. Chidambaram said that all five demands will be raised not only in this House but wherever India Alliance gets an opportunity to present its views, its voice will be heard.
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Copy some more… Chidambaram quipped
Chidambaram advised BJP MPs, especially External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar, to study the Congress manifesto so that in the party meeting they can convince Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to adopt some more good ideas of their manifesto. He said, if you adopt those ideas, we will be very happy to support you. Chidambaram said that copying is not prohibited in this House, rather copying is encouraged and rewarded in this House. So copy a little more.
Government is surrounded on the issue of unemployment
Describing unemployment as the biggest challenge, P Chidambaram cited the estimates of the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy and said that the all-India unemployment rate was 9.2 per cent in June 2024. The former Finance Minister said that earlier there used to be production-based incentives. Now when you started employment-based incentives, there must have been some reasons for it. I understand that the reason was that the number of jobs you were expecting to be created by production-based incentives did not happen. So the Finance Minister should please tell the House what were the results of PLI (Production Based Incentive Scheme). When the results of PLI come out, it can be considered what could be the results of ELI (Employment Based Incentive Scheme). He said that reading the speech of the Finance Minister does not clear the full picture of ELI.
Why only ten words for inflation?
Talking about inflation, P Chidambaram said that the Finance Minister denied the existence of inflation in just ten words in his budget speech. He expressed surprise and asked whether inflation is such a small problem that it can be dealt with in just ten words. He claimed that the inflation figures given by the government show that the inflation rate in the interior and remote areas of the country is many times higher than this. Citing the statement of the Chief Economic Advisor given in the Economic Review, he said that the inflation rate in India is low, stable and moving towards the target of four percent. The former Finance Minister said that this rate has been moving towards this target of four percent for the last four years and when will it reach the target. He said that the bank rate is an indicator by which it can be ascertained in which direction inflation is moving. He said that what the Chief Economic Advisor said in the Economic Review is a blow and the Finance Minister's dismissal of this issue in ten words is like rubbing salt on this injury.
'Only a few people benefit from tax exemptions'
Chidambaram said that there are 7.4 crore taxpayers in the country in 2022-23 and it will increase to eight or eight and a half crore. He said that out of these 7.4 crore taxpayers, 65 percent of the tax liability is zero. Citing the calculation of a chartered accountant from Gujarat about the new tax system, he said that the exemption given in the budget will be available to only two to three crore people of India. He said that what good will it do to give tax relief to only two to three crore people out of the country's 142 crore population. He questioned where the poor people of the country are getting relief and what relief has been given to 30 crore daily wage laborers.
Chidambaram accused of discrimination against states
Talking about federalism, Chidambaram claimed that funds of Kerala and West Bengal are being stopped. Non-BJP state governments are being discriminated against. He questioned what was the attitude of the central government towards Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar before this April. He said that these states had demands earlier, but how were they treated earlier. Chidambaram said that he has no complaint that Andhra Pradesh and Bihar were given relief, but there should be no discrimination against any other state. He said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was born and studied in Tamil Nadu, but the name of this state was not taken even once in the speech. (With agency input)