What is your roadmap for creating two million jobs in five years?
There are two approaches worldwide for creating jobs. The first is supporting the supply side by investing in big industries and giving them subsidies and offering tax returns, which has its inherent flaws. After thorough research, we chose the other model, which is supporting the demand side. This model has been tried worldwide and has produced good results. Give people jobs so that they have disposable money to spend, which leads to increased demand and ultimately generates new jobs.
We received about 6,500 suggestions on the budget from the public and most mentioned the need for government intervention to improve the economy, supporting markets and creating jobs. Since we cannot set up big industries, we have decided to support markets by organising shopping festivals. The per capita income of Delhiites is already good and if we manage to bring it back to the market, it will create new jobs. We held several meetings with market associations and arrived at a figure of how many jobs could be created with each intervention.
But most jobs that you have promised seem to be in the unorganised sector.
There is an imaginary line drawn between unskilled jobs and white-collar jobs. There is a preconceived notion among people that they must have a college degree for a respectable job. In developed countries, youngsters do skill training after completing school and get good jobs. We are talking about the youth living in slums and unauthorised colonies who want to earn a living through dignified jobs.
The number of gig workers is increasing. How does the government propose to support them?
Gig workers are now covered under the legal framework. The country’s law recognises them as a part of our economy. We have started brainstorming what we can do for their welfare. When we are talking about creating 20 lakh jobs and handholding them by giving government support, the gig workers are a part of it.
Regarding the city’s financial health, we have seen that revenue collection has dipped and fiscal deficit has widened. What is the government doing to check it?
The increase in fiscal deficit is not a huge problem. Our GST collection has grown in the past few months. The contribution of excise has also increased and provided a much-needed cushion. We are now working on rationalising circle rates. Also, we are studying car registration fees and road tax structure in other states. We are trying to reduce our expenditure so that the state exchequer is not burdened. But we are definitely concerned about GST compensation. We need GST compensation of Rs 10,000-12,000 crore a year. We are getting a part of it (from the Centre). But we don’t know how to cover the gap.
Are subsidies given on power, water and transport affecting the state’s exchequer?
No, consider subsidies as investment on people to increase their spending.
Delhi’s new excise policy has been criticised by the Opposition. How do you see it?
Delhi is an international city and progressive and economically sound people live here. The consumption of liquor is high. We managed to address the problem of bootlegging with our new excise policy. Also, we checked the sale of spurious liquor by evenly distributing stores across the city. Our revenue went up by Rs 3,500 crore within the first year.
Since retailers participated in open bidding, we gave them the window to offer small discounts to attract customers. But some started offering free bottles. The government’s job is to regulate consumption and trade. We stopped it. Learning from our experiences, we will soon come out with an upgraded excise policy, which will address teething issues.
The new kind of jobs today require different skills. How do you propose to train the youth?
To meet the demands of new jobs, the private sector is running courses and the government will also do whatever is required. We have set up the Skill University for precisely the same purpose, which is designing courses required in the future.
You talked about rebates in GST and VAT amnesty in your budget speech. Are you trying to lure BJP’s core voter base with it, which is the trading class?
We held over 150 meetings with traders, market associations and focused groups and they said to make shopping festivals a hit, offering discounts to customers would be a good idea. GST rebate will be an incentive from the government to traders. As far as VAT amnesty is concerned, our officers waste a lot of time on old cases and litigation. This (amnesty scheme) will be a one-time exercise.
Why is the government coming up with a new solar policy? Isn’t the old one working?
We want to take the total capacity of power generation from renewable sources to the maximum. Our target is to meet 10% of the city’s total demand through renewable energy. This is a new sector. The market is evolving and the government is making changes in the policy from its learnings.
There is a decrease in the allocation for the education sector in this budget. Why?
There is a minor decrease in the budget allocation for the education sector. We increased the allocation for the water sector from about Rs 3,200 crore to Rs 7,600 crore to lay new pipelines, beautify Najafgarh drain, etc. Our motive is not to make capital expenditure in the education sector for romanticism. Our purpose was to improve the education infrastructure. Now that is done, the focus is on water. But reform-oriented projects, which require less capital investment, will continue.
What is the idea behind opening Mohalla Clinics at railway stations and the airport?
We want to open Mohalla clinics wherever footfall is high. Generally, people avoid going to primary health clinics citing time constraints. We want to provide them with medical facilities wherever they are forced to spend time waiting, like bus terminals, Metro stations and the airport.
There are two approaches worldwide for creating jobs. The first is supporting the supply side by investing in big industries and giving them subsidies and offering tax returns, which has its inherent flaws. After thorough research, we chose the other model, which is supporting the demand side. This model has been tried worldwide and has produced good results. Give people jobs so that they have disposable money to spend, which leads to increased demand and ultimately generates new jobs.
We received about 6,500 suggestions on the budget from the public and most mentioned the need for government intervention to improve the economy, supporting markets and creating jobs. Since we cannot set up big industries, we have decided to support markets by organising shopping festivals. The per capita income of Delhiites is already good and if we manage to bring it back to the market, it will create new jobs. We held several meetings with market associations and arrived at a figure of how many jobs could be created with each intervention.
But most jobs that you have promised seem to be in the unorganised sector.
There is an imaginary line drawn between unskilled jobs and white-collar jobs. There is a preconceived notion among people that they must have a college degree for a respectable job. In developed countries, youngsters do skill training after completing school and get good jobs. We are talking about the youth living in slums and unauthorised colonies who want to earn a living through dignified jobs.
The number of gig workers is increasing. How does the government propose to support them?
Gig workers are now covered under the legal framework. The country’s law recognises them as a part of our economy. We have started brainstorming what we can do for their welfare. When we are talking about creating 20 lakh jobs and handholding them by giving government support, the gig workers are a part of it.
Regarding the city’s financial health, we have seen that revenue collection has dipped and fiscal deficit has widened. What is the government doing to check it?
The increase in fiscal deficit is not a huge problem. Our GST collection has grown in the past few months. The contribution of excise has also increased and provided a much-needed cushion. We are now working on rationalising circle rates. Also, we are studying car registration fees and road tax structure in other states. We are trying to reduce our expenditure so that the state exchequer is not burdened. But we are definitely concerned about GST compensation. We need GST compensation of Rs 10,000-12,000 crore a year. We are getting a part of it (from the Centre). But we don’t know how to cover the gap.
Are subsidies given on power, water and transport affecting the state’s exchequer?
No, consider subsidies as investment on people to increase their spending.
Delhi’s new excise policy has been criticised by the Opposition. How do you see it?
Delhi is an international city and progressive and economically sound people live here. The consumption of liquor is high. We managed to address the problem of bootlegging with our new excise policy. Also, we checked the sale of spurious liquor by evenly distributing stores across the city. Our revenue went up by Rs 3,500 crore within the first year.
Since retailers participated in open bidding, we gave them the window to offer small discounts to attract customers. But some started offering free bottles. The government’s job is to regulate consumption and trade. We stopped it. Learning from our experiences, we will soon come out with an upgraded excise policy, which will address teething issues.
The new kind of jobs today require different skills. How do you propose to train the youth?
To meet the demands of new jobs, the private sector is running courses and the government will also do whatever is required. We have set up the Skill University for precisely the same purpose, which is designing courses required in the future.
You talked about rebates in GST and VAT amnesty in your budget speech. Are you trying to lure BJP’s core voter base with it, which is the trading class?
We held over 150 meetings with traders, market associations and focused groups and they said to make shopping festivals a hit, offering discounts to customers would be a good idea. GST rebate will be an incentive from the government to traders. As far as VAT amnesty is concerned, our officers waste a lot of time on old cases and litigation. This (amnesty scheme) will be a one-time exercise.
Why is the government coming up with a new solar policy? Isn’t the old one working?
We want to take the total capacity of power generation from renewable sources to the maximum. Our target is to meet 10% of the city’s total demand through renewable energy. This is a new sector. The market is evolving and the government is making changes in the policy from its learnings.
There is a decrease in the allocation for the education sector in this budget. Why?
There is a minor decrease in the budget allocation for the education sector. We increased the allocation for the water sector from about Rs 3,200 crore to Rs 7,600 crore to lay new pipelines, beautify Najafgarh drain, etc. Our motive is not to make capital expenditure in the education sector for romanticism. Our purpose was to improve the education infrastructure. Now that is done, the focus is on water. But reform-oriented projects, which require less capital investment, will continue.
What is the idea behind opening Mohalla Clinics at railway stations and the airport?
We want to open Mohalla clinics wherever footfall is high. Generally, people avoid going to primary health clinics citing time constraints. We want to provide them with medical facilities wherever they are forced to spend time waiting, like bus terminals, Metro stations and the airport.
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