On the second day of the short-duration discussion on the state of the economy held in the Rajya Sabha on December 6, the Opposition and the Treasury Benches used statistics to counter each other.
The House discussed the subject for about seven hours in the two days and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to reply to the debate on Thursday.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, who initiated the debate, requested Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar that the reply be postponed as most of the Opposition leaders are travelling to Hyderabad to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Telangana. Mr. Dhankhar said he will consider the request.
SP leader Ramgopal Yadav started his speech by saying that after hearing the BJP members’ speeches he felt they were “coming from another world”. Prof. Yadav asked the Ministers to stop reading out what is written on the papers and understand the problems of the people on the ground. He said promises such as tap water and toilets for all have not been fulfilled and inequality has increased. On the Centre’s pet scheme Ujjwala, he said beneficiaries are unable to take a second cylinder as they cannot afford it.
‘Unemployment rate lowest’
Mahesh Jethmalani of the BJP asked the Opposition to see the growth rate and said high growth will address issues such as unemployment and inflation. “The complete recovery in employment in urban areas is crucial. The unemployment rate recorded in the April-June quarter of 2023 is the lowest over the last five years. From 2017-18 to 2019-20, regular wage/salaried employees increased by 1.5 crore, a growth of 13.2 per cent. The rise among females was 0.72 crore or 29.4 per cent and that for males was 0.79 crore or 8.8 per cent,” he said.
P. Wilson of the DMK said the Centre was not supporting the development initiatives of the States despite collecting a huge chunk of taxes and levies. He said even issues such as building and repairing of highways were not looked into despite letters from the Chief Ministers. “Make-in-India, Startup India, demonetisation and GST regime have failed. Policies have weakened the institutions and the economy, and these are shining examples of how the economy of India is,” he said.
