Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday presented the 8th Annual Budget with a focus on employment. Calling it 'Rozgaar Budget', Sisodia said that the Delhi government has come up with schemes that will provide jobs, food, and increased opportunities in business to those who have lost their livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sisodia said that the budget has an agenda to create new jobs for the people of Delhi and to boost economic recovery from the damage caused in recent years due to Covid-19, GST, and demonetization.
"Economy of Delhi is slowly emerging from challenges amid the five waves of Covid-19 and due to this, the GSDP of Delhi at the current market prices is likely to increase from Rs 7,85,342 cr in 2020-21 to Rs 9,23,967 cr in 2021-22. An increase of 17.65 percent", said Sisodia while presenting the budget.
The Delhi government has proposed a Budget Estimate of Rs 75,800 crore for the year 2022-23, 9.86 percent higher than the Budget Estimate of Rs 69,000 crore for the year 2021-22 and 13.13 percent higher than the Revised Estimates.
Sisodia announced a budget of Rs 9,668 crore for the health sector. The Deputy CM said a toll-free helpline will be launched for the health care initiative. The government has also sanctioned Rs 160 crore for health cards for Delhi residents. He also said Rs 15 crore has been allocated for yoga teachers who will provide yoga training to the people of Delhi.
In its annual budget, the Delhi government has allocated Rs 800 crore for creating and providing jobs, an audit of which will also be undertaken for the first time, the Deputy Chief Minister informed. He added that Rs 475 crore has been allocated for the construction and development of Mohalla Clinics, polyclinics, and Mahila Mohalla Clinics. Additionally, the government has also allocated Rs 1,900 crore to construct four new hospitals and redevelop and upgrade existing hospitals in the city.
The Delhi government has earmarked Rs 100 crore for the re-development of popular marketplaces. "The Delhi government will also organize retail and wholesale shopping festivals for 6 to 8 weeks. Under this policy, several popular markets in the city will be redeveloped. The government has allocated Rs 100 crore for this purpose. About five markets will be redeveloped in the first phase", said Sisodia.
The Deputy CM also announced the measures to boost Delhi's Street food. For this, the government will start a "Delhi Food Truck Policy" under which food trucks will operate from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Our Government has chosen the Retail Sector, Food Beverage, Logistics, Tourism, Entertainment, construction, Real estate, and Green Energy sectors as a priority to create new jobs, said Sisodia during his budget presentation.
The government plans to develop a market in Gandhi Nagar as a 'Grand Garment Hub' in the field of readymade garments textile. This program is expected to create more than 40,000 new employment opportunities in the next 5 years.
While presenting the annual budget 2022-23, Sisodia said that with this Rozgaar budget, we aim to increase the employment rate in Delhi from 33 percent to 45 percent in the next 5 years. Currently, only 57 lakh citizens of the total population are employed. Delhi Govt aims to increase it to 75 lakh in the next financial year.
