 "Sitharaman, Nirmala Sitharaman")
Sitharaman said the government is on track to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.
Replying to the discussion on the Union Budget for FY25 in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed the government’s commitment to cooperative federalism.
She also furnished data to assert that the record of the ten years of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in generating employment and controlling inflation, despite the pandemic, was better than the ten years of the preceding United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule. The FM defended the Agnipath scheme, accused the Congress of rolling out a red carpet to welcome separatists into its fold, and claimed that the criticism of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was because it hurt vested interests.
Sitharaman termed as “baseless” the argument by some of the members that the Centre didn’t allow additional borrowings by some non-NDA-ruled states beyond the net borrowing ceiling of 3 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP). She furnished data of the additional borrowings of 0.5 per cent that the non-NDA-ruled states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal availed in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. She said there were uniform parameters set for the additional borrowing space of up to 0.5 per cent of the GSDP available to the states annually, which is dependent on the implementation of specific reforms in the power sector by the states.
The FM said the Budget has struck a healthy balance between growth, employment, welfare spending and fiscal consolidation, and promotes cooperative federalism. “I would like to underline our unflinching commitment to cooperative federalism. The total resources proposed to be transferred to the states in 2024-25 are estimated at Rs 22.91 trillion. This actually entails an increase of Rs 2.49 trillion over 2023-24,” she said.
Sitharaman said the government is on track to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. She said the NDA government’s fiscal management, which dispassionate observers and economists have also spoken about, has been better than the UPA’s.
To the Opposition’s criticism that her Budget speech mentioned only Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the FM referred to the UPA era Budgets, such as the FY10 Budget. She said the Budget had mentioned only two states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. She asked whether it meant that the UPA government didn’t send money to other states. They allocated money to all the states as has the Budget for FY25, she said, and termed the Opposition criticism as a “deliberate attempt to mislead people”.
The FM defended the government’s record on allocations for the agriculture and health sectors. She said for agriculture and allied sectors, the Budget has allocated Rs 1.52 trillion, which is Rs 8,000 crore more than the previous year. She spoke of the steps taken in the Budget for generating employment and cited data of the “jobless growth during the UPA era” and maintained that the labour force participation during the 10 years of the NDA was better. She said the employability of the youth has increased sharply in the last 10 years. Sitharaman also said the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes continue to remain attractive for the manufacturing sector.
Sitharaman said retail inflation during 1999-2004 was 3.8 per cent. It averaged 8.1 per cent (6 per cent in 2004-09 and 10.2 per cent in 2009-14) during the UPA years of 2004 to 2014, and dropped to 5.1 per cent (4.5 per cent in 2014-19 and 5.7 per cent in 2019-24) in the 10 years of the NDA.
In his speech in the Upper House, Congress leader P Chidambaram had asked Sitharaman five questions, including on the Agnipath scheme. Sitharaman, a former defence minister, said the Agnipath scheme will keep the armed forces fit, young and battle-ready. She urged the Opposition to not indulge in politics on issues of national security. “And I don’t think there is a need for us to unnecessarily worry that this is causing some kind of distortion. Not at all. It is with the acceptance of the armed forces that it has been brought in,” Sitharaman said.
The FM said capital expenditure is pegged at Rs 11.11 trillion. “This is the biggest-ever allocation for capital expenditure and it shows increase of about 17 per cent over the RE (revised estimates) and provisional actuals of FY24,” she said, adding that during the Congress-led UPA era, the capex allocation was Rs 13.19 trillion between 2004-05 and 2013-14. “Whereas during our tenure from 2014 to 2024, the allocation for capex has been Rs 43.82 trillion from 2014-15 to 2023-24,” she said. The minister said tax revenues have seen impressive growth.
On NEET, Sitharaman mentioned names of several students from modest backgrounds in Tamil Nadu having qualified and of the increase in medical seats in the southern state. “NEET has ensured cost-effective medical education for families. Certainly it has hurt some vested interests, particularly those in the medical education field, because no longer selling medical seats is possible. Therefore, it has hurt a lot of people. That is why a particular lobby was actively against NEET even before this NEET leak issue came up,” she said.
First Published: Jul 31 2024 | 11:19 PM IS