Budget: Posturing, no action, says Cong

July 23, 2024 12:44

The President offered 'dahi-chini' to Sitharaman before the presentation

The Congress on Tuesday claimed that the government seems to have finally come around to "tacitly admitting that mass unemployment is a national crisis" that requires urgent attention, as it slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech as being "more focused on posturing than action".

The opposition party's assertion came after Sitharaman in her budget speech announced that the government will launch three employment-linked schemes.

These schemes will be based on enrolment in the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "After ten years of denial -- where neither the non-biological PM nor his party's Lok Sabha Elections Manifesto would even mention jobs -- the Union Government seems to have finally come around to tacitly admitting that mass unemployment is a national crisis that requires urgent attention."

"It's far too late, and as it turns out, far too little - the Budget speech is more focused on posturing than action," he said in a post on X. Ramesh further claimed that Sitharaman has taken a leaf out of its 2024 Lok Sabha polls manifesto by announcing an internship programme but "in their trademark style", the scheme has been designed to "grab headlines with arbitrary targets" rather than a programmatic guarantee.

In the Union Budget of 2024-25, Sitharaman announced that the government will launch a scheme to provide internship opportunities to 1 crore youth in 500 top companies over five years.

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