Union Budget 2024 announced some necessary initiatives to curb the country's ongoing unemployment crisis. However,  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified on Wednesday that the government’s employment-linked incentive schemes and the internship programme laid out in the Budget are not guaranteed as rights and will only encourage adoption by the private sector.


“There is no compulsion. There is no bureaucratic intervention. I am not enshrining it as a right. As the central government, I have the convening power to nudge people towards it. Companies can optimally use their CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds and make sure that when they talk about employable skills in people who come out from, let’s say, engineering colleges, they can give opportunities to those people for apprenticeship on their shop floor,” FM said in an interview with Business Standard. 


The finance minister highlighted that the private sector is not compelled, so they do not need to feel pressured. "Equally, I am not asking you to pay him. I am giving him Rs 5,000 every month (Rs 6,000 over and above that in advance). All that they (companies) have to do is use their CSR money to get trainers for these interns," she explained.


On whether the Bharatiya Janata Party's lacklustre performance in the recent general elections prompted the substantial focus on job creation in the economy, Sitharaman dismissed this notion. She clarified that election outcomes varied across different states and were not uniformly indicative of nationwide issues. Specific issues may affect a few states, while others may impact others. Therefore, no single issue cuts across all states, she emphasised.


Regarding the rise in retail involvement in derivatives and the heightened securities transaction tax outlined in the Budget, the finance minister said that regulators are addressing the matter with a gentle approach. She clarified, "I don’t think taxing anything can be a message. These are small increases in a very speculative area. We don’t have an intention to undermine anything that is happening in the market. We are quite happy with people finding avenues to put their saved money for better returns. It is their business, their prerogative.”


Sitharaman explained that the increase in long-term capital gains tax on financial assets to 12.5 per cent from 10 per cent is aimed solely at standardising rates across different asset classes.


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