The development of the infrastructure sector is a basic need

The finance minister read an important part of the budget speech focusing on infrastructure. The Central Government is the best agency for developing infrastructure at the national level, so the commitment of the Finance Minister to promote various model based infrastructure and logistics is welcome. The country needs basic development. Investment in this sector also attracts the private sector, which reduces the cost of ease of doing business and paves the way for new economic activities.

In such a scenario, investment in the infrastructure sector creates not only direct employment but also indirect employment. The first priority in the country is to create employment. Many people have lost their jobs during the epidemic, many whose jobs or livelihoods have not been completely destroyed but whose incomes have dropped significantly in the last two years. Now that we assume that we are entering the post-Covidian era, we should not only create new employment opportunities at a fast pace to regain our jobs as well as achieve pre-epidemic levels.

The number of youth in the country is very high and they want to get employment. Along with infrastructure, health and tourism or the hospitality industry are also areas with great potential for employment. The finance minister mentioned tourism twice. One time on building a ropeway and another time when he spent an extra Rs. He mentioned the Rs 50,000 crore emergency credit line guarantee scheme, especially for hospitality and allied activities.

Sadly, when referring to health, he only mentioned how the health system is going digital. There are three positive aspects to this digitization. First, it will make health services cost-effective as it will create medical records not only at the individual level but also at the community level. This will improve existing medical protocols as well as conduct medical research for new and effective protocols. Second, it will help the health administration. Third, it will address the problem of shortage of human resources. Telemedicine also received legal support during the epidemic and it is now possible to provide timely medical care to remote people. If job creation is a priority, we must build human resources in the health sector to address human resource shortages.

After 191 we have moved towards a market based economy where the government only provides facilities instead of participating in the market. It is a pity that this situation has changed a little. In 205-2, the central government will introduce sovereign green bonds as part of its market borrowing. The money raised in this way will be used to reduce carbon emissions in public sector undertakings. Why shouldn't this money be used to reduce carbon use throughout the economy (both private and public)? This is not clear.