We are in Amrit Kaal. We are supposed to believe that “God’s in his Heaven, All’s right with the world”. Nevertheless, pardon me for being unpatriotic, I have a number of questions of the government. Ordinary people ask me these questions in the hope there will be answers.
1. Notwithstanding the undoubted development, does the government believe there is high incidence of poverty in India? What is the proportion of the population that is poor? If the bottom 50% of the people own just 3% of the wealth (OXFAM), will they not be considered poor? Does the government agree with the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index that estimated that 16% of the population of India (22.4 crore) is poor? Whatever be the percentage, why does the government not talk about the poor? Why did the word ‘poor’ occur only twice in the 90-minute Budget speech on February 1, 2023?
Also read: Across the aisle by P Chidambaram: Budget (3) – Abandoning the poor
Jobs and food
2. Does the government believe there is massive unemployment in India? Is it correct that the ‘labour force’ in India is about 47.5 crore and the ‘labour force participation rate’ (ie, people working or looking for work) is 48%? Why is the rest of the labour force — nearly 25 crore — not working or not looking for work? Is it correct that between January 2020 and October 2022, the number of people working was 45,00,000 fewer among men and 96,00,000 fewer among women? Does the government agree with CMIE’s estimate that the unemployment rate is 7.5%? Finally, why was the word ‘unemployment’ not uttered in the entire Budget speech?
3. What is the government’s estimate of the prevalence of hunger in India? Is the government aware that in the Global Hunger Index 2022, India slipped from rank 101 to 107 out of 123 countries? Is the government aware of the widespread prevalence of anaemia among women (57%) and child-stunting (36%) and child-wasting (19%) among children under age 5? Does the government agree that malnourishment — or the lack of adequate food — is the main cause of anaemia, stunting and wasting? Will the government explain the reason why the Budget allocation for POSHAN (mid-day meal scheme) in 2023-24 was reduced by Rs 1,200 crore from the current year’s? Will the government justify why the subsidy for food has been cut by a humongous sum of Rs 80,000 crore in 2023-24?
4. Will the government explain why the subsidy for fertilisers has been cut by Rs 60,000 crore in 2023-24? Will not the prices of fertilisers as well as the cost of production of food crops rise? As a consequence, will not the prices of food and food products increase? Will this not result in lower consumption of food by poor families?
Unfilled vacancies
5. Is it true that there are 1,17,000 schools in India that are single-teacher schools and nearly 16% (16,630) of such schools are in Madhya Pradesh alone? Will the government please explain how a single teacher can teach students in five classes in a primary school? Why are more teachers not appointed in these schools? Is it because there are no qualified teachers or no money to employ them? What is the ‘learning’ that the children acquire in these schools?
6. Is it correct that thousands of young men — and now women — aspire for a career in the Armed Forces or in the Central Armed Police Forces? Is the government aware that there are 84,405 vacancies in the CAPFs? Why is there not continuous recruitment to the CAPFs so that when vacancies occur the selected candidates may be immediately appointed? Is the government aware that aspirants to these posts are the less educated and from the poorer families in the country? Is the government also aware that many of them will be from the socially backward and vulnerable sections of society?
7. Is it correct that in the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) there are 3,253 vacant teaching posts out of 8,153 sanctioned posts? Is it also correct that in the 55 central universities, there are 6,180 vacant teaching posts out of 18,956 sanctioned posts? Since IITs and central universities are directly controlled by the central government, why are more teachers not appointed in the IITs and central universities? Is it also correct that most of the vacancies are in the posts reserved for OBCs, SCs and STs? Are the posts vacant because there are no qualified teachers or no money to employ them?
Also read: Across the aisle by P Chidambaram: Budget (1): Text ignores the context
Exiting Amrit Kaal
8. Is it correct that every year in the last 9 years over 1,00,000 persons renounced their citizenship and left the country? And is it correct that in 2022, 2,25,000 persons gave up citizenship and left India? Has the government conducted an inquiry into why so many Indians — presumably with good educational qualifications — give up Indian citizenship every year?
It is believed that, in Amrit Kaal, “the gates will open to greater happiness and pleasures of humans”. These questions, if answered, will open at least a window of opportunity to millions of people, not to great happiness or pleasures, but to mundane things like food and jobs. Will we get answers?