Budget 2024: 'FM taking ideas from Congress manifesto', says Jairam Ramesh

Union Budget 2024: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Finance Minister has taken a leaf out of the INC's Nyay Patra 2024, with its internship programme. Here's how the Opposition reacted

The Congress party accused Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of taking elements from its 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto, specifically referencing the internship programme.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised the Finance Minister for adopting the internship scheme idea from his party’s Lok Sabha election manifesto, which aims to offer opportunities to 10 million youth. Additionally, he expressed discontent with the government for failing to grant ‘special category’ status to Andhra Pradesh.
 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Congress leader said, “The finance minister has taken a leaf out of the INC’s Nyay Patra 2024, with its internship programme clearly modelled on the INC’s proposed Apprenticeship Program that was called Pehli Naukri Pakki.”

While presenting the Union Budget 2024 in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Finance Minister introduced a new centrally-funded skilling programme aimed at training two million young individuals over the next five years. Additionally, the minister revealed that the government will offer 12-month internship placements to 10 million youths at the top 500 companies over the same period.
 

“The government will give an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 per month and a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000. The companies will bear training cost and 12 per cent of the internship cost,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Targetting the Centre over the scheme, Ramesh further said, “However, in their trademark style, the scheme has been designed to grab headlines, with arbitrary targets (10 million internships) rather than a programmatic guarantee for all diploma holders and graduates, like the Indian National Congress had envisioned.”
 

Talking about the Centre failing to grant ‘special category’ status to Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh said, “In 2018, Chandrababu Naidu garu quit the NDA because of the non-biological PM’s failure to grant Andhra Pradesh Special Category Status. Six years after the drama, at a time when the government is reliant on his MPs for support, all he has managed to get is ‘special financial support’ for Amravati.”
 

Congress leader P Chidambaram said he wanted the finance minister to copy more ideas from the Congress manifesto.

“I am also happy that she has introduced the Apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. I wish the FM had copied some other ideas in the Congress manifesto,” Chidambaram said.
 

Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi said that the allocations to the state of Bihar are ‘jhunjhuna’.

 

“Murders and thefts are happening in the state. Labourers are not getting their wages. Youth are not getting employment and farmer issues persist... Rs 26,000 crore allotted to Bihar is a jhunjhuna,” the RJD leader said.

[With agency inputs]