 "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman")
A week before the Interim Budget, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government would orient its policies towards improving the lot of four groups — the youth, women, farmers, and the poor — identified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The youth, women, farmers, and the unfortunate poor still need some more support ... Everything will be focused on their betterment. Then you don’t really get into this whole thing about caste, community, or religion,” Sitharaman said at the 125th anniversary of Hindu College, Delhi.
She was speaking on the topic “Empowering the Youth: Building the Foundations of a Viksit Bharat”.
Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1, while the Lok Sabha elections are expected in April-May.
The minister said the government’s efforts extended beyond financial support and had a focus on creating opportunities, such as those for the youth, through skill training.
“Farmers, for instance, are being exposed to newer, natural ways. This will bring down their cost. As for the poor, we will reach the saturation point in giving them houses, water, electricity, and road connections,” she added.
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Sitharaman said the government since 2014 had made efforts to provide basic necessities of housing, water, roads, and electricity to people with a sense of urgency that was lacking in the past 50-60 years.
Sitharaman said India has remained self-sufficient in the face of global challenges such as the Red Sea crisis and many countries wanted to work with India to build a long-term understanding on food exports.
Except in oilseeds and pulses, India is nearly self-sufficient in agriculture, she added.
“We are one of those very fortunate countries in a world affected by war, the Red Sea conflict, and movements of foodgrains becoming logistically challenging and costly. We are largely self-sufficient. An immense possibility exists in agriculture and we are investing in research and development,” the minister added.
Sitharaman said the government had been able to save Rs 2.5 trillion through direct benefit transfer by weeding out dummy and undeserving elements.
While asking the youth to vote with the sense of duty and not just a right, the minister said the public narrative had become vitiated because of lack of credible sources.
