Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replies to the debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha on August 7, 2024. Photo: SansadTV via ANI

The Finance Bill 2024 was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) with an amendment relaxing the recently introduced new capital gains tax on real estate. It allows tax payers an option to switch to a new lower tax rate or stick to the old regime that had higher rate with indexation benefit.

The amendment comes after a proposal to remove indexation benefit in calculation of long-term capital gains on sale of immovable properties in the Budget 2024-25 had evoked criticism from various corners, including Opposition parties and tax professionals. The Budget had proposed a lower 12.5% rate of LTCG tax, down from 20%, while doing away with the indexation benefit.

With this amendment, individuals or Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who bought houses before July 23, 2024, can opt to pay LTCG tax under the new scheme at the rate of 12.5% without indexation or claim the indexation benefit and pay 20% tax.

The Finance Bill 2024 was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha with a total of 45 official amendments.

Replying to the debate before the passage of the Bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, rejected criticism from Opposition parties that the middle class was heavily taxed. She said that the Budget proposals were aimed at promoting investment and benefiting the middle class.

She said that the Narendra Modi government had brought in a simplified taxation regime and eased compliance without drastically increasing taxes.

Among the various measures taken to help the middle class, Ms. Sitharaman mentioned the reduction in customs duty on various goods that would promote trade and investment and generate employment. She also referred to the hike in tax exemption limit on long-term capital gains in listed equities and bonds to ₹1.25 lakh from ₹1 lakh, a move that she said would benefit those investing in the stock market.

The Finance Minister said that simplification of the tax regime was the primary objective of the Modi government , highlighting that 72% of those who had paid income tax had opted for the new regime while filing returns this year.

“We have made transformational changes in tax governance. In 2023, the tax slabs were significantly reduced. Again, this has been done this year,” Ms. Sitharaman said, adding that the standard deduction for the salaried class had been increased.

On the Opposition’s demand for removal of Goods and Services Tax on health and life insurance premiums, the Union Minister said that 75% of the GST collected goes to States.

“Prior to levying 18% GST on health insurance [premium], all States used to levy tax on insurance premiums. So when GST was rolled out, the tax automatically got subsumed into GST,” she said.

Opposition MPs staged a walkout after a furore over the government not taking up an amendment in the Finance Bill to withdraw the 18% GST levy on medical and life insurance premiums. The amendment had been moved by N.K. Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.

The Finance Minister said any amendment in GST had to be approved by the GST Council.

The previous two terms of the Narendra Modi government saw the launch of some major national advanced technology missions, including for supercomputing, cyber-physical systems, and quantum technologies. These were coupled with initiatives to boost private sector participation with space and geospatial policies. India became the fourth to have a spacecraft’s lander touch down successfully on the moon. In parallel, there were concerns about the sidelining of basic research and stagnation in research funding as a percentage of the GDP. What then do leading scientists make of the new Budget in Modi’s third term?

N. Kalaiselvi, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research:

Continuing with the focus on ‘Viksit Bharat’ like last year, this year’s Union Budget also spurs research and development in important areas such as climate-resilient agriculture, critical minerals, miniature and modular nuclear energy technology, energy-efficient technologies, etc.

Under the Budget priority entitled “Innovation, Research and Development”, the Hon’ble Finance Minister has clearly emphasised basic research and prototype development, including innovation and industry linkages. Expectedly, the space sector has received a massive boost.

In the Budget presentation, the Hon’ble Finance Minister listed nine priorities. 

In addition, I see a few other priority areas, such as “Productivity and Resilience in Agriculture”, “Energy Security”, and “Manufacturing and Services”, which provide research and development opportunities, and are also focus areas of CSIR.

The proposed “Critical Minerals Mission” and the exemption of customs duties on 25 critical minerals will significantly boost critical minerals research. Another area of national importance and global relevance is clean energy. Water supply, sewage treatment and solid waste management also figure as priority areas. Incidentally, CSIR is into technology development in all these areas.

In my opinion, the plan for “plug and play” industrial parks in 100 cities and the creation of a dozen industrial parks under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme will provide significant opportunities for the uptake of indigenous technologies like those from CSIR labs. Importantly, there is a clear focus on commercialising technologies with the involvement of private sector-driven research.

To meet the fund requirements for various R&D activities as mandated by the Government of India, during the Financial Year 2024-25, the Hon’ble Finance Minister has earmarked an allocation of Rs 6323.41 crore for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The CSIR budget has increased by 10%, above last year’s. We will put in our best efforts to sustain our R&D activities in the allotted budget, and in case of further need, we will approach the Ministry of Finance at the time of revised estimates.

Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT):

The Union Budget presented by Hon’ble Finance Minister lays emphasis on transforming agriculture research in the country. The focus is on productivity and climate resilience in agriculture. The DBT established “speed breeding platforms” in the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Varanasi; Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; and the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, to shorten the developmental cycles of agricultural crops with improved attributes and climate resilience. Taking the example of rice crop, in field conditions, rice can be grown for a maximum of two to three generations in a year’s time. In a speed breeding facility four to six generations of rice crop is grown in a single year.

Further, several agricultural crop varieties with climate resilient and high productivity traits are being developed through phenotyping and genotyping the genetic resources pertaining to rice, wheat, chickpea, linseed, niger, safflower, sesame, green gram, cowpea, black gram, moth bean, horse gram, and rice bean.

Skilling of human resources to mobilise young minds towards futuristic innovations is also required at doctoral/PhD training [levels], which is traditionally an individual enterprise. The recently launched i3C BRIC-RCB PhD programme, designed to solve national problems through collaborations, espouses multi-disciplinary learning. This will inculcate innovation as well as skilling and create scientists with cross-disciplinary expertise in cutting-edge areas of biosciences and biotechnology.

The angel tax abolition is a major incentive for startups raising private capital. For the high risk biotechnology sector, the angel tax was a discouragement to attract investments. The 2024 Budget announcement will pave the way for investment inflow — a very welcome step for promoting deep-tech life sciences startups that require to raise several small rounds at the pre-product level, which typically is supported by the government, angel investors, and high net-worth individuals.

When seen in conjunction with provisions for FDI promotion in the Budget, this will create a robust pipeline of angel-funded portfolio companies ready to be picked up by VC firms post-BIRAC funding for high-risk and early-stage ideas. [BIRAC is the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council.]

R&D efforts in our country are primarily academia-centric. Most often the innovations that occur at the laboratory level fail to get commercialised. To bridge this gap, R&D efforts in private companies on equal footing is required. In this direction, operationalisation of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) for basic research and prototype development with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will pave the way for private sector-driven research and innovation.

Subhash Lakhotia, Distinguished Professor, Banaras Hindu University:

The actual expenditure of S&T and higher education in 2023-2024 was much less than the initial allocation for that year.

The suggested allocations for 2024-2025 are not very different from that in 2022-2023 because of this reason. They may deceptively appear much greater than last year, but in most cases the increase appears to be less than 10% of that in 2022-2023. This is indeed disappointing since this nominal increase would be, if it is not already, offset by inflation.

Additionally, because of increasing numbers of public and private institutions, the level of competition has substantially increased. Therefore the quantum available per capita would become much less than in 2022-2023. An additional worry is whether the actual available funds would really match the allocated budget. The situation in 2023-2024 provides a red signal!

The ANRF could make a small difference if and when this becomes operational. As of now, it seems to be in limbo!

And I do not think that as a percentage of the GDP, the allocation in this year has shown any increase. Unless that happens, we will continue at the same level or actually go down.

The zero budgeting system (ZBS) and quarterly reports remain problems. Quality basic research projects cannot have a one-to-one correlation between ‘targets planned’ and ‘targets achieved’ because in any research effort, there is a lot that remains unknown. Thus the mandated quarterly reports put unnecessary burden and stress on researchers. It is only when the actual results are different from the expected that a real quantum advance happens.

Tapasya Srivastava, professor, Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus:

The previously announced ANRF is to be made operational with a focus on both basic science research as well as prototype development. The interim budget had already announced a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for R&D for innovation, to be led by the private sector. The establishment of a separate venture capital fund for space technology also has the potential to spur startups. However, given the enormous capital requirements of space tech, the allocation of Rs 1000 crore seems inadequate.

The Budget has announced measures to step up clean energy generation, including solar and nuclear energy, with concerted measures such as reducing taxation on critical input raw materials and minerals.

The allocation for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for pharmaceuticals increased to Rs 2143 crore; it will help boost domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing. But specific announcements for the health and wellness of the youth along with employment generation would have been welcome.

While the Budget may not have many headline announcements for science conventionally, there are some heartening steps. The stress on employment generation and the internship scheme would undoubtedly help many students of science get into well-known companies. In the long run, this will encourage students to take up science as a career with more opportunities beyond academia.

C.P. Rajendran, National Institute for Advanced Studies:

The government plans to set up a venture capital fund of Rs 1,000 crore to promote space technology. There is also a major push for R&D of new nuclear technology. The government will partner with the private sector to set up small reactors and develop newer technologies for nuclear energy.

The Finance Minister said they will operationalise the ANRF for basic research and prototype development. What is intriguing is the mention of “prototype” development along with “basic research”. Generally, prototype development means the “initial stage of software development” before finally releasing the product in the market or for users. It’s not clear as to what prototype development has to do with research in basic sciences. Does it mean the government is only interested in translational research with technological applications? That goes against the stated objectives of the ANRF. The government should make clear what kind of research they want to fund through ANRF. 

The ANRF was purportedly created to prioritise research facilities in universities and colleges. Most of India’s 40,000 higher education centres are run by States and have limited funding opportunities. State establishments get only about 11% of the funds provided by the DST and 65% of funding goes to IITs under the Union Government. The ANRF wants to change this disparity, but what is the mechanism?

Overall, the budget allocation has some nominal increases, nothing exciting. A long-standing demand from the scientific community is to arrange for higher government funding because the private sector has not shown much interest in investing in basic research.

T.V. Padma is a freelance science journalist.

This investment from Ambuja Cementis “the largest investment in the State by a cement industry player”. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Adani Group-owned Ambuja Cement Ltd (ACL) on August 3 announced an investment of around ₹1,600 crore in Bihar to set up a cement grinding unit at Warisaliganj in Nawada district.

The 6 MTPA Warisaliganj cement grinding unit is the company’s first venture in Bihar, which is aggressively expanding its capacity in the country, according to a statement from the Adani Cement entity. “The Warisaliganj Cement Grinding Unit, a standalone facility with an overall capacity of 6 MTPA (million tonnes per annum), will be established at an investment of nearly ₹1,600 crore,” it said.

With this announcement, the billionaire Gautam Adani-led firm has become “the largest investment in the State by a cement industry player”.

“The project will meet the growing infrastructure needs of Bihar, aligning with priorities outlined in the recent Union Budget,” it said.

In the latest Union Budget 2024-25, the Narendra Modi-led government unveiled big-ticket projects for Bihar, proposing a total outlay of over ₹60,000 crore for various projects, including funding for three expressways, a power plant, heritage corridors and new airports and sports infrastructure.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Centre’s support for the development of three Expressway projects — Patna-Purnea, Buxar-Bhagalpur, and Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga, and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar. These four projects will have a total cost of ₹26,000 crore.

The Adani group firm said it will execute its cement grinding unit project in phases, with the first phase being commissioned by December next year. “The project will be implemented in three phases with first phase of 2.4 MTPA at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore is targeted to be commissioned by December 2025. Adequate provisioning of land for future expansion is in place, which will be commissioned in due course at much lower capex,” ACL said.

The project will be located in Mosama village, Tehsil Warisaliganj, District Nawada, Bihar and the site is well-connected by road and rail network. Moreover, this project will contribute “approximately ₹250 crore per year to the State’s fiscal revenue” and create 250 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs.

Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA), the State agency, has already allotted 67.90 acres of land for this cement unit for which environmental clearance has been obtained for work on the site.

Pranav Adani, Managing Director (Agro, Oil & Gas) and Director, Adani Enterprises Limited, said: “We look forward to collaborating with the state government, authorities, and local communities on this and future projects. State government’s support in fast-tracking and provisioning of all permits has made this landmark investment possible in short time.”

Adani Group recently announced the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Penna Cement at an enterprise value of ₹10,422 crore, which will add 14 MTPA, taking its capacity to 93 MTPA. The Group aims to achieve a 140 MTPA capacity by FY28 and is aggressively expanding organically through capacity expansion at the existing units and also going for acquisitions. Through Ambuja, it also controls ACC Ltd and acquired MyHome Industries and Sanghi Industries in 2023.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on August 1 accused the Modi government of indulging in “tokenism” by bringing in “so-called employment-linked incentive schemes”, and said the ‘B’ in the Union Budget stands for “betrayal”.

Mr. Kharge alleged that the Modi government’s Budget has mere internships forced upon the industry with no long-term solution in sight.

He said that a week into the ‘Kursi Bachao Budget’, the academia and the industry awaits clarity from the Modi government on its “tokenism” regarding the “so-called ’employment-linked incentive’ schemes”.

“Crores of youth want a permanent solution to their plight of Jobs, but Narendra Modi ji’s government bitterly deceives them by not even giving a temporary solution!” he alleged.

“We ask two questions to the Modi government on these sham schemes – When will the Modi government provide details of the schemes?” he said.

Also read | Congress MP Jairam Ramesh says Budget promises for Andhra, Bihar are ‘post-dated cheque on crashing bank’

Neither the youth nor the industry which is to be nudged, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to provide internships, first time jobs or training has any know how about the contours of the five employment-linked incentive schemes, Mr. Kharge said.

“A government, which could not create a conducive environment for private investment and took measures to plunge it, is now acting as if it will suddenly nudge 500 top companies to hire 4,000 interns per year!” he said.

Was there any stakeholder consultation before imposing this “half-copied idea” from the Congress manifesto, Mr. Kharge asked.

The Congress Manifesto had a ‘Right to Apprenticeship’ – which is a structured system of training where individuals, known as apprentices, learn a trade or profession through a combination of on-the-job training and classroom instruction, he said.

“On the other hand, the Modi government’s Budget has mere internships forced upon the industry with no long-term solution in sight,” he alleged.

Why are none of these Employment-Linked Incentive Schemes missing the Public Sector component, Mr. Kharge asked.

“Is it because the BJP wants no recruitment of SC, ST, OBC and EWS youth in the Public Sector – through reservation?” he said.

Why are all these schemes providing temporary employment or internships, he asked.

“For instance, the incentive scheme for first-time employees, which offers a ₹15,000 subsidy is paid out in three installments and the second installment is only payable if the employee undergoes a compulsory online financial literacy course,” he said.

“Why should employees in every unrelated sector be expected to do this,” Mr. Kharge asked.

“More worrying is the clause stating that the subsidy is ‘to be refunded by the employer if the employment to the first timer ends within 12 months of recruitment’. If the employee switches jobs in 10 months, he/she has already received the benefit of the scheme, but the employer is required to bear the costs. Would any small employer take this risk?” Mr. Kharge said.

The minimum wage (average) in India is about ₹13,300, he said.

“It looks as if no new intern/hire in these SHAM schemes even getting that? The Modi government should clarify on this,” he said.

“The ‘B’ in BJP’s Budget stands for ‘Betrayal’!” he added.

Budget 2024-25 promised that “a policy for promoting pumped storage projects will be brought out for electricity storage and facilitating smooth integration of the growing share of renewable energy with its variable and intermittent nature.”

Why pumped storage

India has planned to create an ambitious 500 GW of non-fossil power by 2030. In around two years, from 2021 to 2023, it created some 23 GW of non-fossil generation capacity. Out of 10 GW added in eight months in 2023-24, 7.5 GW were wind and solar, pointing to how renewables will account for most of the new power generation that will be added in India.

Actual renewable power generation has crossed 10% of the total generation and its share will only increase many times. This power will necessarily vary and is “infirm.”

Indian policies have laid down that all the power that renewable sources generate should be used and their curtailment should be the last priority. State-of-the-art forecasting techniques have helped to predict more accurately how much will renewable power generation vary in the course of a day. This has helped grid operators plan in advance how to increase or decrease power generation from other sources to provide steady power to the consumer.

Hydro power generation can quickly ramp up or ramp down in a matter of seconds. Hydro helped to ensure there were no blackouts during the lights-off campaign during the pandemic, for instance. Gas turbines come next. Coal and nuclear need hours of notice.

When the world’s attention turned to renewables and the problem of variable power generation, many solutions were proposed for storing energy and releasing it when wind and solar are down. Until then, no electricity generated was stored in large scale.

Among energy storage methods thought of were scaling up batteries and pumping in compressed air into large caverns and then drawing on them to generate power when required. But, much of the energy storage adopted across the world today is pumped storage that uses water. These are like super large batteries but natural and use water.

India’s experience

India has 3.3 GW of pumped storage. Main ones are Nagarjunasagar, Kadana, Kadamparai, Panchet and Bhira. Some four are under construction and two in advanced levels of planning.

China leads the world with 44 GW of pumped storage supporting 1,300 GW of wind and solar. India would therefore need to ramp up its pumped storage capacity by several times if it wants to meet its renewable power generation targets.

Pumped storage is of two types: on river and off river. On-river is like any hydroelectric project supplied by a river. Existing hydro projects could become pumped storage. Off-river projects are those that have two reservoirs at two different levels to which the water is pumped up or falls down to under gravity in a closed loop. Abandoned mines can, for instance, be converted to such reservoirs. When there is surplus power, water is pumped up from lower to upper reservoir and when power is needed the water can fall down under gravity to turn the turbines and generate power.

How Kadamparai operates

In Tamil Nadu, at noon on a typical day in July, wind and solar can generate half of all power. This is among the highest in the country.

While the State was an early starter and leader in wind power capacity, more recent renewables have been solar.

On a summer day, solar plants in Tamil Nadu produce some 5,000 MW at noon. But that power dwindles as the day progresses and drops to zero when the sun sets. Wind has its own vagaries too. The wind season is May-September.

Tamil Nadu has peaks of around 17,000 MW to 20,000 MW on a daily basis. This year in July, maximum wind power generated reached 5,499 MW and maximum solar reached 5,512 MW. Wind and solar have Must Run Status in the State which means whatever they produce must be taken.

The Kadamparai plant near Valparai in Coimbatore district came up some 37 years ago before wind and solar of any scale was there. The purpose was to help balance the grid and the plan has come in handy when Tamil Nadu took the lead in renewable power generation.

The plant has a higher reservoir that is at a height of around 380 m above a lower reservoir. Each unit is a turbine generator set producing electric power when the water flows from the upper reservoir to the lower. The same unit can function as a pump consuming electric power when it pumps water from lower to higher reservoir.

The previous day morning, power managers in Tamil Nadu plan for the next day how much and when to operate each power plant in the State based on several factors such as demand expected as well as a forecast of wind blowing and sun shining. Typically, when the sun shines brightest, there is a power surplus coming from solar. That power is used to pump up the water at Kadamparai. Each unit needs 20% more power to operate as pump than what it can produce as generator. But this is solar power and no fuel is burned to produce that electric power.

When the Kadamparai plant is operating as a pump to store energy, it would need about an hour and half to switch to generating mode. When stopped, it would need about half hour to start and generating at full load.

When solar generation stops and the evening peak load begins after 6pm, Kadamparai plant becomes a generator. It can produce 400 MW of full power for three to four hours and help support the evening peak loads. Sometimes the plant is operated at less than full load late into the night depending on the conditions.

The upper reservoir has around 1 TMC feet of water. Leakages are marginal and are often replenished by natural rainfall.

When the solar is coming in full, power managers in the State stop drawing power from hydro of which the State has around 1,000 MW. Hydro can be quickly turned on if there is a sudden drop in power generation, such as in the case of an outage. Barring water for irrigation and drinking, hydro is used for power generation when demand peaks.

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament in New Delhi on July 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 30 termed misleading claims by Opposition leaders that if any State is not named in the Budget speech, then it does not get any budgetary allocation.

Replying to a Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman asserted that no State was being denied money. She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.

Ms. Sitharaman asked, “I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 States. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time — did money not go to those 17 States? Did they stop it?”

She was responding to comments by several Opposition members that the Budget has provided funds only to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and nothing to other States.

Ms. Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to a heavy capex push.

She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5% by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9% for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6% in 2023-24.

The Budget has provided substantial financial support of ₹17,000 crore to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir this year. It includes ₹12,000 crore towards financing the cost of J&K police. “That’s the burden we want to take on our shoulders,” Ms. Sitharaman said.

The Lok Sabha approved the ₹48.21-lakh crore Budget for FY2024-25 of the Union Government. The lower House also approved the budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a voice vote.

As the dust settles on the proposals that the Finance Minister made in the Budget earlier this month, some aspects have become clearer while questions remain on others.

Budget 2024-25 saw several initiatives around employment and skilling being proposed. Do these form a good first step in addressing the jobs challenge the country faces? Or should the government have begun addressing the problem at the level of primary school and worked upwards?

Guest: Amit Basole, Professor of Economics at Azim Premji University

Host: K. Bharat Kumar

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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The BJP floundered in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The floundering continued on the floor of both Houses where Members of Parliament from the INDIA parties delivered multiple speeches that were well-structured, well-executed, and rich in content. A recurring theme in many of these powerful interventions on the Budget was a 12-letter word giving Modi and his coalition sleepless Delhi nights: unemployment.

Article 41 of the Constitution states, “The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education, and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.”

Employment And Food Insecurity

Many MPs in the Opposition quoted CMIE data about the employment rate – which is the ‘proportion of employed persons in the working age population’ – recorded at 37% in June 2024. The Global Hunger Index 2023 was often referred to last week in Parliament – India ranked 111th out of 125 countries. Despite improvements in food production and distribution, food insecurity persists, particularly in marginalised communities. 

Impact On Personal Freedoms

A citizen cannot truly enjoy any liberty when perpetually anxious about her family’s unmet needs. This becomes even more important when the Budget skirts around the issues of health, nutrition, social security, and education. It is difficult to think about personal liberties on an empty stomach. 

MGNREGA

MGNREGA addresses the issue of Right to Work. However, it ensures it as a statutory right, instead of being a Fundamental Right. The latter cannot be taken away by an amendment of the MGNREGA Act. It bears repetition that states have been constantly deprived of MGNREGA funds. The Union owes the West Bengal government alone Rs 7,000 Crores for the scheme. 

In a labour-surplus society, why then is the Union government often selling the family silver to private entities? Two dozen large Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have been privatised. This is not the solution. Should it not be the duty of the state to offer the labour force multiple opportunities for employment? There are 30 lakh vacancies in the Union government and government-controlled organisations. What is the road map and timelines for these vacancies to be filled? Parliament is in session. The government must provide answers. 

Education And Skill Development

The Union has an obligation to provide quality education and skill development to improve employability, and guarantee livelihood. But Budget 2024 has allocated only Rs 1.20 lakh crore to education, which is a 2% decline from Actuals (Rs 1.23 lakh crores) in 2023-24. 

Right To Livelihood As A Fundamental Right 

Through judicial interpretation, the Right to Livelihood has been read into the Right to Life, even though it is not explicitly listed among the Fundamental Rights in Part III of the Constitution. The Supreme Court emphasised, “An equally important facet of the right to life is the right to livelihood because no person can live without the means of living, that is, the means of livelihood. If the right to livelihood is not treated as a part of the constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of livelihood to the point of abrogation. Such deprivation would not only strip life of its effective content and meaningfulness but also make life impossible to live.”

The Right to Work, outlined in the directive principles, has been interpreted alongside the Rights to Livelihood and Life, evolving into a Fundamental Right through judicial pronouncements. Integrating the Right to Work into Fundamental Rights, and ensuring that policies are designed to create sustainable job opportunities, is paramount to ensuring employment. Even after a tepid performance in the elections, where they were punished by young people, this government refuses to prioritise investment in education and vocational training. 

Only talk about cooperative federalism will not do. States politically opposed to the ruling dispensation are deprived on flimsy grounds for years of their MGNREGA funds. These are funds due to people who have completed their work, and have still not been paid.

Additionally, fostering a more inclusive job market by supporting small businesses and encouraging entrepreneurship can play a critical role in generating employment. By taking these steps, India can better align its economic policies with its constitutional commitments and provide more meaningful support to its citizens.

The Right to Work still requires the state to take responsibility, and appropriate legislative actions, to fully provide citizens with the Right to Life, Livelihood, and Dignity.

Research Credit: Chahat Mangtani

(Derek O’Brien, MP, leads the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

New Delhi:

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi is likely to speak on the Union Budget 2024 at 2 pm in the Lower House today. According to the sources, Congress MPs believe that, as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul must address the House.

Earlier, in a meeting with Congress Lok Sabha MPs, Rahul Gandhi stated that since he has already spoken during the special session of Parliament, he believes others should also be given a chance on a rotational basis, instead of him speaking every time.

As per the sources, party MPs are insisting that Rahul’s address will have a significant impact as the Leader of the Opposition, and thus he should speak. According to sources, Rahul has not made a final decision yet, but due to the pressure from MPs, he will decide today morning.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the Union Budget presented on Tuesday, saying that it is an attack on the “dignity of India’s federal structure”.

“This budget is an attack on the dignity of India’s federal structure – in the greed to save power, there is neglect of other states of the country, there is discrimination against them,” Rahul Gandhi said in a post on Facebook.

The Congress MP participated in an INDIA bloc protest against the Budget at the Parliament complex on Friday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged discrimination with opposition ruled states in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and said her speech mentioned projects for only two states.

Speaking briefly in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge, who is Leader of Opposition in the House, alleged such budget has never been presented and it has been done to save the BJP-led government, which is dependent on support of JD-U and TDP for its survival.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Budget’s push for job creation is welcome, but a key reason for firms to hire is a rise in demand and capacity utilisation levels. Economists feel the consumption push is limited.

Well, there is a moderate tax cut for the salaried class mainly, but also for others to a lesser extent. There is a continued push on capital investment. There is a big push on schemes like the PM Gram Sadak Yojana [rural roads], the Awas Yojana [housing], both rural and urban. These are big spenders in rural areas and there’s a big expansion with the former covering 25,000 more habitations. This is spending in rural areas by rural people who are employed in these roles. So, there is quite a big trust there. Similarly, the three crore new houses coming in, of which two crore would be in rural areas, is also actually a big trigger of consumption. So, I would argue there are measures here to trigger consumption, but they are not in the nature of direct cash transfers. They are consumption measures that act through creation of assets. By the way, the employment incentives, when paid, will also result in some consumption. So it is consumption through some desirable objective rather than consumption through just transfer of cash, for the sake of consumption.

What about measures to rein in food inflation, that has been spiking overall price rise?

Whatever can be done on food inflation is being done. There’s one important point which has not been very much highlighted which in the Budget — a substantial provision for the Price Stabilisation Fund with the highest ever allocation [₹10,000 crore]. We intend to use this more aggressively on the procurement of pulses and oilseeds, building up an adequate buffer stock in years of low prices, and then releasing it at times of high prices. This is an initiative to stabilise food prices, particularly on pulses and oilseeds. And we mean business about procuring it at MSP [Minimum Support Price] for these items. Once we do that, farmers will tend to shift… We hope to see an expansion in the production of these items and reduce the volatility in those prices.

For Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, you have provided funds for some projects, and promised to arrange funds for others…

These will be only through concessional multilateral loans, which could be from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, JICA, AIIB… any of these institutions, which considerably extend assistance to India anyway. They will lend to the Government of India, and the GoI will on-lend to the States, just as with any multilaterally-funded projects in States. The banks are willing, and we will be able to tie it up. Building of a capital is very much an infrastructure activity. We have not discussed [any interest subvention for the States] yet.

The Budget pivots from targeting the fiscal deficit after 2025-26, to a focus on the debt to GDP ratio. Would this entail a goal like reaching 40% of GDP over time?

It may not necessarily be 40%. We are saying it will decline gradually, how far and how fast, we are yet to determine, but it will be on a declining path. So, after 2025-26, when we will be below 4.5% of GDP and that’s a commitment, the intention is that it will be below 4.5% definitely. But what will be the deficit will also depend on how much we need to keep the debt going down. Should the debt go down by x% and when should it reach what level, those are yet to be determined. So, the deficit will be under 4.5%, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it would be 3% of GDP. And we can afford more than 3%, and still keep the debt declining steady. So that is the change of approach.

Will we have a road map for it or we will take a view each year?

That’s something we will come up with. But we are saying one thing very clearly, that road map will be downwards. The trajectory of the road is downhill in terms of debt to GDP… how fast, what’s the gradient, will be [determined] on a year-to-year basis.