CM Arvind Kejriwal bats for employment boost, measures to fight inflation as he applauds Delhi’s 76,000 crore ‘Rozgaar Budget

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal pushed for an employment boost and measures to fight inflation as he applauded Delhi’s 76,000 crores ‘Rozgaar Budget’ on Saturday. The Delhi Government has managed to increase its budget by 2.5x since coming to power because of its commitment to honesty, said Shri Kejriwal as he congratulated Deputy CM Shri Manish Sisodia for presenting a spectacular budget. The CM stated — Delhi Government’s free education, healthcare, water, power and bus travel for women are a huge relief during backbreaking inflation. Don’t think any other state government in the world provides healthcare facilities like Delhi. Health is one such sector that can push people into poverty; people are forced to sell their assets if someone falls ill. This budget will go on to bring relief from inflation and provide employment in Delhi. Homeless children and beggars are not voters so no government till date tried helping them; our government will build a residential school at a cost of 10 crores to rehabilitate them. Presented a Rs 76,000 crore budget this year compared to Rs 31,000 crore when we had come to power in 2015. Nothing short of a miracle that Delhi’s budget increased 2.5x in seven years. AAP is an honest party that runs governments committed to the cause of honesty; the rise in the budget is a testament to that. Our government has presented a holistic plan to generate 20 lac employment opportunities in 5 years. It takes immense courage to take a resolve to generate 20 lac jobs; this is no election promise. 1.68 crore people of Delhi are job qualified today but only one-third of those have jobs. We must increase the number of our workforce from 33% to 45% and employ 76 lac people in the mainstream. 20 lac employment avenues will be generated in the retail sector as well as those of Food and Web series, Logistics and Supply Chain, Travel and Tourism, Entertainment, Construction, Real Estate and Green Energy. 5 markets of Delhi will be revamped; Delhi Shopping Festival and Wholesale Festival will be organised; this will give a huge push for jobs. We will develop Gandhi Nagar Cloth Market into a state-of-the-art Grand Garment Hub. Delhi has emerged as the startup capital; through our startup policy, the youth will develop new business and increase employment opportunities. Food truck policy will be brought in to promote Delhi as a one-of-a-kind food hub. There are huge plans to establish film policy, cloud kitchen clusters, and electronic cities to support employment generation.

Addressing the media after the presentation of the budget in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “Back in 2015 when we presented our government’s first budget, it was of Rs 31,000 crores. Today, seven years down the line, we have presented a budget of around Rs 76,000 crores – having increased 2.5 times since the first one in 2015. Today, if we take into account the budgets presented by any of the state governments in the country, or even the Centre, the Delhi Government’s budget and its significant improvement over the years is no less than a miracle. This miracle has taken place solely due to the fact that the Aam Aadmi Party is a staunchly honest political party, and hence the AAP Government has only done honest work for Delhi’s progress and development. The leap in the budget over the seven years is a result of the arduous and honest hard work – where we put an end to corruption, unnecessary government expenditures, fixed leakages in revenue sources and spending. As a result of all these efforts combined, the people of Delhi will be able to benefit from such a generous budget which is being presented for the Financial Year 2022-23.”

He elaborated, “We believe that in today’s day and age, the common public faces two main obstacles – employment and inflation. Keeping these in mind, the AAP Government which was recently instituted in Punjab declared new government jobs, which will be filled within the next one month. Additionally, we ensured the regularisation of 35,000 workers in Punjab. If we take a broad outlook at the Delhi Budget 2022-23, then it predominantly solves the issue of the aforementioned two problems faced by the people of Delhi i.e. employment and inflation. I highly doubt that a mechanism to generate employment on such a large scale with creative and innovative solutions as the Delhi Budget presents has ever been attempted before by any government in the past. In the last seven years, the Delhi Government has ensured around 12 lac job opportunities for the youth of Delhi. Out of this, 1,78,000 jobs were created in the government sector, while around 10 lac in the private sector. The budget that has been presented today aims to generate 20 lac more employment opportunities for the people of Delhi over the next five years. It takes a great deal of courage to even claim such an ambitious goal. This is not any election gimmick, today was no electoral campaign. Today the Budget was presented in the Vidhan Sabha, and within that a blueprint outlining the generation of 20 lac jobs in the next 5 years was introduced. It is an extremely bold and innovative budget, for which I wholeheartedly congratulate our Finance Minister Shri Manish Sisodia and his team. This budget is the need of the hour. The coronavirus pandemic led to a large number of layoffs, causing livelihood troubles for many in Delhi with loss of income sources.”

He further said, “Under the blueprint for the generation of the aforementioned 20 lac jobs, it has been discovered that there are 1.68 crore, people, out of the population of over 2-3 crores in Delhi that are eligible to take up jobs. However, merely one-third of the 1.68 eligible people are employed at present. Hence, our goal is to take this 33% employment number up to 45% over the next five years, to increase it by 12%, which will prove to be a formidable task – meaning today 57 lac people have jobs as of today, which has to be increased to 76 lac, and so around 20 lac job opportunities have to be created. This is not an empty promise, for a detailed blueprint has been included in the budget regarding the source of generation of these jobs that are being promised. I don’t think a budget with a focus on details and practical aspects on such a micro-level has been made before. Jobs will be created in the following eight sectors: retail, food & beverage, logistics & supply chain, travel & tourism, entertainment, construction, real estate, green energy. Each sector has been supported with detailed schemes on how these jobs will be created.”

He continued, “Five traditional markets in Delhi have been identified which will be entirely revamped and renovated, following which we expect the businesses to flourish like never before in these areas. A Delhi Shopping Festival will be organised to draw attention and crowd to Delhi, with a spike in tourism contributing to Delhi’s economy. This festival will be held every year, for a stretch of days, and hence help create more jobs and boost the state economy further on a yearly basis. Delhi has always been a significant destination for wholesale markets in the country, but unfortunately, it has lost its appeal and character over the years. This wholesale character will be revived in the state, and Delhi will once again become the wholesale hub of the country. In addition, a Delhi Wholesale Festival will also be organised. An announcement was made regarding the Dilli Bazaar Portal, which will serve as a one-stop destination for buyers and sellers for all markets and shops throughout Delhi. This will avail the facility of buying and selling 24×7, without any weekly or timely restrictions, with the added bonus of shopping from the comfort of one’s home. Moreover, international customers from London or New York, or wherever can also engage on the portal and buy goods from Delhi’s local markets like Khan Market, Chandni Chowk and the likes. We believe that this will help Delhi’s financial situation to get a significant boost, and Delhi’s goods and services will now reach each and every corner of the world. Gandhinagar will be developed as the Grand Garment Hub. The area’s garment industry is extremely popular and widespread, and once it is systematically streamlined and revamped, the opportunities for market development in Gandhinagar are endless.”

Shri Arvind Kejriwal added, “The Delhi Government’s new Start-up Policy opens up numerous doors to a wide arena of opportunities and innovation. Delhi has already become the country’s Start-up Capital, with the maximum number of start-ups taking flight in the state compared to other cities in the country. Hence, under this progressive start-up policy, we are confident that the youth in Delhi will develop innovative businesses and establish a hub for opening up new job opportunities to the unemployed. There will be a strong focus on developing the non-conforming industrial areas in Delhi, which will again generate a significant number of employment opportunities. All famous food hubs will be developed further and marketed better, and the Food Truck Policy will be made to help promote food trucks as eateries throughout Delhi on a large scale. These are all changes and jobs that can be done by a commoner. We are not proposing any development ideas which will require a gigantic amount of capital, but ones which can easily be taken up by small shop-owners, or common workers. Cloud Kitchen Clusters will be established. Delhi will be developed into an Electronic City. E-Vehicles, solar energy, urban farming will all contribute towards developing Delhi into a clean and green city. It has already been established as the EV Capital of India. The Delhi Film Policy is expected to also add a large number of jobs to the market. The Rozgaar Portal, which we had established last year, had some 10 lac job vacancies registered on it, and a second version of the same is being developed to connect job providers and job seekers. This is a brief summary of how the model for the creation of these 20 lac jobs has been broken down, and this entire plan has been presented in front of the entire country today.”

“The second biggest problem faced by the people of Delhi is that of inflation. Market prices are skyrocketing and it has become a source of great stress and tension for a commoner to run their household in peace. The Delhi Budget 2022-23 has yet again provided sections to relieve this stress for Delhi residents. There are a number of measures that are being taken and facilities that are solely available to the people of Delhi, and these will continue to grow further. Today, the government schools in Delhi have been completely revolutionised and ensure quality education to each and every child of Delhi. There is no need for people to spend lacs on their children’s education anymore, for education is now free. Numerous families are transferring their children’s admission from private schools to Delhi’s government schools – some 3.75 lac people have made the switch this year. Even if there are 2 children in a family studying in a low-income private school, the fees easily amount to 3,000-5,000 per child, putting a heavy financial burden on the parents. By shifting these students to a government school, the family saves on over 10,000 rupees a month which is a matter of great significance to the family.”

The CM further said, “In the health department, Delhi is the only state where regardless of economic background, free treatment is available for all patients. If one develops a minor fever, they can seek free medical advice and medicine from their closest Mohalla Clinic. Everything from consultation to tests to any other procedures will be free. If one, unfortunately, falls prey to a more serious disease which costs some 20-40 lac, they can head to GTB Hospital or LNJP or GB Pant, or any of the major 38 Delhi government hospitals, the entire treatment will be provided for free. The Delhi Government will bear all costs, without asking whether you are rich or poor, no BPL card is needed to be shown. If you want to get any test done, be it a CT Scan, MRI or any other test, the Delhi Government offers it for free in its hospitals. In case for some reason you have to get the test done in a private lab, we reimburse the whole cost. This kind of health security isn’t provided by any government in India or abroad. Health is one such sector that puts people into poverty. When there’s a health crisis in a family people end up selling whatever they have and still don’t manage to gather enough funds. We have ensured that this is something the people of Delhi don’t have to care about. Health & Education make up for a huge social security net. There’s backbreaking inflation in the country, a lot of it is out of our hands to address but we’re trying to ensure we provide as much help as we can however possible. This brings us to electricity rates. We’ve all seen how people all over India pay tens of thousands per month for a basic right like power. In Delhi, they pay zero rupees a month. This is a huge aspect of support when it comes to the kind of inflation we are looking at. The case with water is exactly the same too. We’ve made the water supply free and are now on track to provide it 24×7. After all, what’s the point of free water is there’s no water supply. The fifth aspect of this social security net is free transport for women. Women get free bus travel in Delhi and it has immensely helped a large number of families.”

He added, “I come bearing another good news. We are working on transforming the state of unauthorized colonies in the capital. By 31st March 2023, unauthorized colonies of Delhi will have good quality roads, drainage connectivity, as well as, complete water and sewer pipeline network. A handful of colonies that need permissions from ASI, Forest Dept and similar agencies, will have to wait a bit but barring those almost all of Delhi’s unauthorized colonies will have every basic facility provided by the government. This will not only help and support the residents but also increase their standard of living. It will help them lead a life of respect and dignity. I remember how residents would tell us during elections that their marriage proposals keep getting rejected because of the drastic condition of the colonies.”

The CM continued, “We’re working rapidly on cleaning the Yamuna too. We’ve committed ourselves to the project and will clean the river before the next elections. There’s a huge announcement that was made in the budget today regarding the homeless kids of Delhi. There are so many innocent children who have been forced into the act of begging. No government wants to help such children because they aren’t voters. We have allocated ten crores rupees to build a residential state-of-the-art school-cum-facility for the upliftment of these children. This residential school will be a novel concept in itself. These children need emotional and psychological care before anything else. A lot of efforts like forcing children into care centres have failed till date. This facility will provide the best possible services to these children and nurture their growth so they can be included into the mainstream. We’ll help them lead a life of utmost dignity and develop good citizens in the school. I take this moment to applaud our Finance Minister and Deputy CM Shri Manish Sisodia and his entire team for presenting such a spectacular budget. They’ve truly exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

While replying to a media query on the issue of ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie, The CM said, “Out of the last 20-25 years when the Kashmiri Pandits have faced an exodus along with extreme hardships, the BJP had its government at the Centre for 13 years. Of this, for the last 8 years, the BJP has been ruling the Central Government. During this period, not one family has been helped, not a single Kashmiri Pandit family has been rehabilitated to the valley. The BJP has only played dirty politics over their agony. They’re now rubbing salt on the wounds of Kashmiri Pandits by making a movie on the tragedies they’ve lived. Reports say, they’ve earned Rs 200 crores from this movie. To commercialise the pain and agony of a community and mint money in the name of their tragedy is nothing short of a criminal act. The people of this country will never accept this. We have two simple demands. If the BJP really wants everyone to see this movie then they should upload it on Youtube. Second, whatever money this movie is earning in the name of Kashmiri Pandits should be spent on their rehabilitation. The government needs to direct its resources towards actually helping the Kashmiri Pandits instead of spending time promoting a movie.”

In response to another question on the MCD unification bill brought by the Centre, the CM said, “The MCD Bill has only been brought to postpone Delhi elections. There’s no significant purpose the bill serves barring two specific motives. First, They are reducing the wards from 272 to 250. This move has no logic. This will result in delimitation and delimitation will further delay the elections for years. That’s what they actually want. Second, the whole municipal body will now be run by the Centre. This is downright unconstitutional. Once the bill comes to the fore, we will closely examine it and challenge it in the courts if the need be.”