Budget Ideas Copied From Congress Criticises Government For Ignoring Unemployment, Farmer Issues: P. Chidambaram
Citing the CMIE report, he said the unemployment rate in the country is 9.2 per cent.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, Chidambaram said the Finance Minister has adopted the Congress' proposals to introduce the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme, the apprenticeship scheme to provide allowance to youth and to abolish angel tax. Criticising the government for the unemployment problem, he said no concrete steps have been taken in the budget to tackle unemployment. The claim of 290 lakh people benefiting from the schemes announced by the Finance Minister is a highly exaggerated figure. He said unemployment is the biggest challenge facing the country. Lakhs of candidates apply and appear for exams for a few dozen vacancies or a few thousand posts. Citing the CMIE report, he said the unemployment rate in the country is 9.2 per cent.
Describing inflation as the second biggest challenge, he said wholesale price index inflation is 3.4 per cent, consumer price index inflation is 5.1 per cent and food inflation is 9.4 per cent. Condemning the government's casual attitude towards inflation, he said there was nothing in the budget speech that could give confidence that the government would deal with the issue seriously. He said, the Economic Survey dismissed the issue of inflation in a few sentences and the Finance Minister also dismissed it in ten words in his speech.
