The Rajya Sabha has taken up discussion on the Union Budget 2024-2025. The House is also taking up discussion on the Budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for 2024-2025 simultaneously.
Initiating the discussion, Congress MP P Chidambaram raised the issues of unemployment and inflation. He said unemployment is the biggest problem saying that the Production Linked Incentive scheme has not generated enough jobs in the country. He raised questions over the announcement of the Employment Linked Incentive scheme in the Union Budget. Mr Chidambaram said inflation is much higher than the actual figure alleging that the Finance Minister did not speak much on it during her Budget speech. He also raised the issue of alleged discrimination against some states in the Union Budget saying that Bihar and Andhra Pradesh got the additional funding in this year’s Budget but what about the other states. He demanded to provide minimum wages and guaranteed MSP. He also demanded the abolition of the Agnipath scheme and the scrapping of the NEET examination.
Dr. Radhan Mohan Das Aggarwal of BJP highlighted the achievements made during the last ten years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the government initiated Jan Dhan Yojana which provided banking services to crores of people in the country. He said, over 14 crore households have been provided tap water connections in the rural areas. He said the Ayushman Bharat scheme proved instrumental in providing health services to the poor people. Citing shining examples of the country’s growth in many sectors, Mr Aggarwal said, the country is witnessing a growth rate above eight per cent and lakhs of employment opportunities have been generated in the country. Taking a dig at the UPA government, he said, the fiscal deficit was over 10 per cent in 2012-13 which has now reached around five per cent. He said, per capita income was also raised under the current government. Discussion is underway.