Minimum Wage, Agnipath: P Chidambaram's 5 Demands From Nirmala Sitharaman

Congress MP P Chidambaram posed five questions to the government Wednesday in a speech in the Rajya Sabha, a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman read out the Union Budget.

Mr Chidambaram - who served as Finance Minister in the Congress-led UPA II government - called on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to ensure daily minimum wage of Rs 400 and provide a legal guarantee for MSP, or minimum support price, a core demand for farmers protesting since 2000.

The Congress veteran also demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government write off the unpaid balance of education loans till March, abolish the contentious Agnipath military recruitment scheme, and scrap, for states that do not want it, the NEET exam for entrance to medical courses.

He also threw in a "please, copy some more" jibe at the BJP.

The reference was to claims the 2024 Union Budget borrows, without acknowledgment, schemes proposed by the opposition party in its manifesto ahead of the general election.

"...will be very happy to support you (the BJP), if you take those ideas. Copying is not prohibited in this House... in fact, copying is encouraged and rewarded," he said to laughter from opposition MPs.

Crisis Or No Crisis? Jobs Are The Question

Mr Chidambaram's speech rested on four major planks, the first of which was unemployment.

"Unemployment is the biggest challenge. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy has estimated the all-India unemployment rate in June 2024 was 9.2 per cent..." he began.

"Now, earlier there was a Production-Linked Incentive scheme (to create jobs). When you introduced an employment-linked scheme... there must have been a reason. I suspect it was because the PLI did not create the kind of jobs you wanted to create..." Mr Chidambaram said.

"So, will the Finance Minister tell this House... what was the outcome of the PLI? Once we know the outcome... we can look ahead to what can be expected from the ELI."

In her speech Tuesday, Ms Sitharaman announced three ELIs, including a five-year industry internship scheme (which the Congress claims was copied) in association with the government.

She said these schemes would create jobs - as many as 30 lakh - in the manufacturing sector.

These measures were, predictably, hailed by BJP leaders and ministers, including the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah as "game-changing", but have been panned by the opposition.

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Mr Modi, speaking after the budget was presented, said it would give an unprecedented push to generation of jobs, and "open new avenues for the youth... give new strength to the middle class."

Mr Chidambaram appeared sceptical of the claims.

"We have the ELI... it is an interesting idea but it does not inspire confidence. Let me go on record to say it does not (because I do not think) you will be able to place 290 lakh people under this scheme."

"It should not turn out to be another election jhumla, like your two crore jobs promise..."

"Magnitude Of Unemployment Problem"

To make his point, the Congress leader referenced multiple news reports about tens of thousands, and even lakhs, of people rushing to apply for limited private sector jobs.

"The Uttar Pradesh Police Department conducted an examination for 60,244 vacancies... 48 lakh persons applied for this examination. It was cancelled a couple of days later. Air India wanted to fill 2,216 vacancies... 25,000 people thronged Mumbai airport for a walk-in interview..." he said.

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"And yet, Reserve Bank of India, two-three weeks ago, said 'there is no jobs crisis in India'. Exact words... 'No jobs crisis in India'," Mr Chidambaram declared. "I suggest, sir (addressing Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar) unemployment be taken seriously. We will wait for outcome of ELI scheme."

"It is an interesting scheme but, at the moment, I am not impressed," he said again, "The outcome will judge if your (the government's) intentions are good... if you want to tackle unemployment."

"Show Me Credible Data"

On Tuesday, speaking to NDTV after the Budget speech, Mr Chidambaram ripped into the government and demanded "credible data" to back the Finance Minister's claims. "They claim they will create two crore jobs every year. Unless I see credible data, I'm not willing to accept this,' he said.

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