Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Speaks with Rahul Joshi, Group Editor-in-chief, Network18, at the News18 India Chaupal event.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the government will continue with systemic reforms and welfare schemes for the people like it has done in the past.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there should be no apprehension about the implementation of bold reforms and all reforms are on track as per plan. She also said the government will continue with systemic reforms and welfare schemes for the people like it has done in the past.
Talking to Rahul Joshi, Group Editor-in-chief, Network18, at the News18 India Chaupal event, the finance minister hit back at the charges of “rollback government”. She questioned those who are “pushing the u-turn narrative”.
On the pension scheme, Sitharaman said the government has put up a good alternative for the OPS/NPS debate. Employees unions have welcomed this.
On the economic growth, She also said it is easy to cherrypick numbers and make claims. We did not incur big expenditure in Q1 due to elections etc. Expenditure will pick up in Q2 and Q3, and boost the “slowing down” growth being alleged.
On rate cuts in future, Sitharaman said the RBI is doing its full analysis and taking a call. “I, therefore, expected them to look at the economy as a whole for both growth and inflation,” she said.
She also said the consultation is over on One Nation, One Polls (ONOP). The public agrees that we are spending too much on various elections. Also development activities are held up due to model code. These are avoidable expenses.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman said, “In Budget we brought schemes to train 1 crore people to help towards employment. After Budget we meet the industry across India.” “Corrections are made after suggestions from people. The asset classes were targeted for same treatment in Budget. It’s not a U turn but accomodating indexation benefit in real estate after receiving suggestions from people.”
“Any party aspiring to power should understand what that state/centre be able to take up. Will it be able to fund the schemes being announced. What I find is that freebies are given for temptation. And then states struggle to meet the bills. Classic examples are Karnataka and Himachal. Look at their conditions now. State govts are not able to pay current salaries. In Karnataka, an unbelievable number of promises were made. Now they are themselves saying they can’t meet their responsibilities,” the finance minister said.
Four classes of people are in focus including women, youth, farmer. “We will give development a priority rather than castes,” Sitharaman said
