NEW DELHI: Raising the issue of rising unemployment and vacant posts in government departments, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha on Thursday suggested that the government immediately start work on the job calendar and fill it.
Referring to the recent protests in Bihar and some parts of Uttar Pradesh over recruitment exams for Railways, Jha, while participating in the debate on the budget in Rajya Sabha, said people are losing their patience.
"You should immediately work on an employment calendar. You should take out information from every department, area, corporation about vacancies in a year," he said, adding "if you do not fill up those vacancies, then people are losing their patience."
On the Union Budget 2022-23, Jha said the allocation for health and education in the budget has declined again and there is no discussion of the creation of employment.
The government gave a data of creation of 60 lakh in 5 years but much more youth in numbers of crores are knocking at the doors, which the government has closed.
Referring to the visuals of the recent protests on rail recruitment, Jha said: "As you have closed the doors, hence you have to see this visual."
He also took a dig at the government for taking credit for providing free food and vaccination ('muft rashan' and 'muft vaccine') and said India is a welfare state and it's the duty of the state to do so.
"Please do not insult the poor with this," Jha added.
He said he is not concerned about what the rich have got but the poor should be protected.
"I am not concerned what people of airport and port (rich people) got. You can give them all but the poor's plate should be protected. Poor's plates are getting shorter in size and people are not getting jobs," he added.
Jha also raised the issue of MNREGA and said people are not getting jobs under it even after demanding and states like Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are the highest in this, which is a "collective shame".
"Why your growth is faceless and jobless and now you claim to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy," Jha said.
Jha also pointed our reduction of 30 per cent in the budget for rehabilitation for those involved in manual scavenging under self employment.
Vandana Chavan of NCP highlighted the issues faced by the cities in the country and suggested some immediate measures.
"Cities are the engine of growth and contribute 60% in GDP, which is expected to rise by 75% by 2030. Cities are growing and deteriorating also, this is our last chance. Cities are not only on ICU but on ventilators," she said.
Chavan suggested setting up a national commission for urbanisation and state commission for urbanisation.
"We cannot forget that urbanisation is a dynamic process and is continuously throwing new challenges. It will be good if a statutory body is formed by the legislature, which will continuously monitor and study the trends of urbanisation," she added.
Chavan also suggested constitution of a special cadre for municipal services like IAS, IFS and IRS considering the fact that the municipal corporation is now required urban planners, economists, management professionals, ecologists, geologists and experts on water and environment and all these are missing at the moment.
She also asked the government to have schemes for the urban poor on the lines of urban poor to address the issue of joblessness and unemployment.
Independent MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan raised issues faced by Assam and Northeastern states and highlighted an increase in the number of joblessness in the region.
The finance minister in her budget speech highlighted Prime Minster Narendra Modi's initiatives for the development of the Northeast but will this initiative with a budgetary provision of Rs 1,500 crore address any core issue and concerns of the Northeastern states, he asked.
The Act East Policy is just a slogan as no concrete action plan has been formulated to make the region a hub for export to border countries, he added.
Bhuyan also asked the finance minister to share the figure of total earning from Assam from the oil sector and the royalty payoff.
The amount of royalty is 20 per cent of the crude price, which has not been revised and the amount is small also, he added.
With the introduction of GST, the state government has been left with little flexibility in generating its own resources, Bhuyan said.
"The state is reeling under a severe financial crisis which impeded development activities. One of the important sources of revenue for the state is royalty from crude oil. All the royalty is required to be paid, on the last date of each month as per the petroleum and natural gas Amendment rule 2003 and that has been never been done," he said.