Creating Employable Youth Should Have Our Entire Focus: Aruna Sharma

Former secretary for the Indian government's ministry of electronics, information technology, and steel, Aruna Sharma, spoke with BW Businessworld on the Union Budget 2023–24. She shared her initial thoughts on the budget.

In her initial response to the FM's Budget 2023–24, Sharma stated, "The heart is where it should be."

The budget has made it more likely to identify what works, what corrections are required, and whether those corrections are fully or partially implemented, the speaker continued.

The government highlighted the nearly Rs 7.5 lakh crore budget allocation for infrastructure along with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which essentially became branches and twigs of the National highways and panchayat funds (Amendments 73rd and 74th), providing direct funding to the panchayat department for infrastructure to take care of lanes, drains, and panchayat.

Sharma mentioned that there should be financial and road connectivity (which emphasizes the goal of inclusive growth, allows for digital money access, and opens up credit to NBFCs and microfinance institutions).

"We have to see how it operates," Sharma added. 

"The third connectivity is net connectivity; we have been thinking about the last mile of high-power connectivity for the last decade because 5G will remain the majority in metropolitan areas and big towns, but how it unfolds deeper into the villages has not been much discussed. This is a work in progress at a tortoise speed," she added.

The youth population, domestic market, and tech brains were cited by Sharma as the country's USPs. Sharma also recommended allocating a skilling budget to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), where one or two apprentices could be paid for per MSMEs.

"There is a need to train the other section of the youth who are not tech brains so that this portion of the youth will be into mechanical work or the mechanisms of these MSMEs at all levels (small, micro, and medium)," she said. 

She used mint (pudina) as an example for the agricultural sector because it has numerous applications in the pharmaceutical, confectionery (in the form of methanol), and masala industries. It has assured takers who further process it and take care of the marketing part of the herb. But in rural areas, employment is created due to this. "There's a single sentence in FM's budget speech, let's see how it unfolds and see how it adds a little value in the remote areas," Sharma asked.

She also highlighted the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme, which not only gives guaranteed employment but also creates an asset in the rural regions. When MSMEs are utilizing e-commerce, they should be given the benefit of taxation by rationalizing the GST. Small and micro MSMEs still need hand-holding. 

Sharma further stated that the FM's budget did not mention the 'social registry'. Only 8 states have gone through the social registry, which keeps a record of family members' data, unlike Aadhar. It should be one of the focuses of the social sector. 

When asked about youth employment, she stated that India requires 8 crore jobs per year and that we are nowhere near meeting this requirement. We need to create youth who are employable. She added that the youth should be directed toward jobs that are sustainable and provide high-quality employment because otherwise, they will become a liability.