According to The Hindu Report, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia presented Delhi’s annual budget 2022-23, which he termed a “Rozgar (employment) Budget” that would create “at least 20 lakh new jobs” over the next five years.
In the upcoming fiscal year’s Budget, there is an increase of about 13.3 percent as compared to the revised estimates of the previous year’s Budget which stood at Rs 67,000 crore.
As the capital has seen a long Covid shadow, the Delhi budget presented has focused on the need to create and provide jobs and boost economic recovery. It was with this aim that Manish Sisodia, the Deputy CM who also holds the Finance portfolio, christened it a ‘rozgaar budget’, attempting to lay out a roadmap to provide jobs to 20 lakh people in the next five years.
“Currently, the total population of 1.68 crore and 56 lakh people have some employment. Our aim is to make these 76 lakhs. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, we are aiming to increase the percentage of the working population of Delhi from the current 33% to 45% in the next five years,” said Sisodia.
After the budget, Kejriwal said it was a miracle that the budget had increased 2.5-fold in seven years. “We aim to create 20 lakh new jobs in the next five years. Just saying it takes courage. This was not an electoral promise, this was the budget. And we have presented a framework to create jobs,” he said, thanking Sisodia.
Job creation
In the next five years, the government will plan to redevelop several iconic retail markets in the city into attractive tourist destinations, Mr. Sisodia said. The government will focus to create five markets this year.
“For this, a provision of ₹100 crores has been made in the budget of the next financial year. At least 1.5 lakh new job opportunities will be created in the next 5 years from within just 5 markets,” he said.
He said ‘Delhi Shopping Festival’ will be organised every year in which people from India and abroad will be invited to come and shop. The government will give SGST (State GST) refunds to sellers in order to help them offer attractive discounts to consumers.
“This is expected to increase the number of tourists by about four lakhs, which will benefit hotels, restaurants, tourism and other businesses in a big way. It is expected that this will increase the business by at least 25 percent,” the minister said.
Shopping festival
Similarly, the finance minister has proposed a shopping festival that is meant for wholesale traders. A total of Rs. 250 crore was allocated for these two festivals.
“The Wholesale Shopping Festival held in Yiwu City of Zhejiang in China has been a game-changer in attracting customers from all over the world to China. And when it comes to Delhi’s goods, then we are sure that the trust in Delhi’s goods will be a hundred times more than in China’s goods,” he said.
The government has also planned to create 1 lakh “green jobs” in the next five years.
This has been done through several initiatives that is planned for clean air and water. This includes 20,000 new jobs in the Electric Vehicle sector, 25,000 new jobs in e-autos, and 25,000 new jobs in “smart farming”.
For all the projects in the employment section, Mr. Sisodia said, Rs. 4,500 crore will be required during the next 5 years. For the first year, the government has allocated ₹800 crore.
No specific timelines
There will be many projects that will be part of the government’s drive to create 20 lakh jobs over the next five years, were not given specific timelines.
The redevelopment of non-conforming industrial areas will be expected to create the highest number of jobs as per the budget — 6 lakhs — does not have a timeline.
Mr. Sisodia also said that due to the successful implementation of the previous seven budgets presented by the AAP government, more than 1.78 lakh youth have been given government jobs.
