Mr.
Chairman, Sir, I thank you for giving me this
opportunity to participate in this discussion on the Budget. Sir, I
personally believe that the economy is in deep crisis. I will demonstrate in my
short time that it is so. I thought that when the first Budget for the
next term of this Government was to be presented, it would give us a
picture as to where we are and where we should be. Forgetting about
allocations made to departments and sectors of the economy, what is
important is the vision of the Government to get us out of100 this economic morass. That really
should have been the focus in this Budget. But I find that
absent. Now, before120 I say
anything, let me tell you why the economy is in crisis. We are a population of
140 crores. I have a report of International Labour Organization. It
is called the India Employment Paper, 2024, which says that 83 per cent of
India's youth is unemployed. In 2000, the unemployment was 35 per cent. It
increased in 2022 to 66 per cent and in 2024 to 83 per cent. This is not
my data. This is the data of200
this report. This is the state of unemployment in our country. Now, how
will you deal with that? Unemployment is not something that happens
suddenly. It happens over a period of time. It happens because the
economy is stagnant. Unemployment240
is related ultimately to several factors. It is related to education. It
is, in turn, related to skill development, which, in turn, is related to industrial
production, which, in turn, is related to GDP growth. Unless you deal
with all these sections, you will not be able to increase our
unemployment rate. So, this is where we are. Most of300 the unemployed people are in the unorganized
sector. Only 10 per cent of people are in the organized sector. The
CMIE data says that 79 per cent of our population belongs to the working age
group of 111 crore people out of 140 crore, of which 83 per cent are
unemployed. Now, you can imagine the crisis that this country360 is facing. We can talk of allocations.
But, I think the Finance Minister should have given us a roadmap
as to how to deal with this crisis. Unfortunately, they have not
been able to provide this roadmap because they will400 have to generate employment for 7
to 8 million people on a yearly basis for the next 30 years. How will they
do that? Where is the roadmap for that? Now, every Budget ultimately is a political
statement. Whether we presented it this side or you presented it that side,
it is a political statement. The fact of the matter is that you are
strapped. The fact of the matter is that you know that unless you get
two people480 on board, your
Government will not survive. Therefore, your allocations have to be
tailor made to the demands of those500
two people. There is nothing wrong with that. I am not
criticising you for that because that is the only way you can survive. There
is nothing wrong with that.
Sir,
the India Skill Report which is prepared by India says that there will be
7 million job seekers every year and 12 million jobs will be needed every year.
There is no roadmap for that. This is one aspect. I have given you the
figures. Now I come to the second aspect. The second aspect is that the
world is moving in one direction and we are moving in600 another direction. Why do I say so? Sir,
as you know, in the rest of the world, there is a declining population,
young people are few and aged people outnumber them. In order to
ensure that their economy continues to grow, they have to go for artificial
intelligence. Artificial intelligence means that you produce the same thing
not through manpower but through machines. Now that artificial
intelligence is good for the European system or the United States of
America or the developed world. But, in India, if you have 83 per cent of
our people unemployed, you cannot use artificial700 intelligence. Some sectors like IT industry have to
use artificial intelligence or they will start losing their jobs. Your Economic720 Survey says that 0.4 per cent job
loss will take place in the IT sector. So, the sector which gives you the
maximum employment is going to start losing jobs because they have to compete
with the rest of the world. In fact, there will be no recruitment
this year in the IT sector. Therefore, where the economy is actually productive
you will lose jobs, and where the economy cannot afford artificial
intelligence, you need jobs and there is no800 roadmap for jobs. This is a very serious
issue that confronts this Government. This is the second issue. There is
a report of the International Monetary Fund which says that 60 per cent
of all jobs in the developed world840
will be lost and 40 per cent of all jobs in the rest of the world will
be lost. So, if the 40 per cent of the jobs in our part of the world are
lost, where are people going to get jobs? Where are they going to earn? Who is
addressing this issue, Sir? This country needs minds to900 look at issues, not at politics. You and
I are together for the country, not for BJP or Congress or some other
party. The nation comes first, and if you don’t empower the youth of
this country, where will our country go?
Let
me come to the third issue which is Education. Sir, actually there has been
a slight increase960 in the
Education Budget. But, it is still less than 6 per cent which is what
the promise was for a long period of time.985
