Agniveer scheme will keep armed forces battle-ready: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Noting that the government has brought the Agniveer scheme with a great sense of committment, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that it will help keep armed forces battle-ready and young. She also National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) doesn't disadvantage anyone and expands opportunities.

Replying to the debate on Union Budget in Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman responded to the questions raised by members including former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Congress and several other opposition parties have demanded that Agniveer scheme should be scrapped.

"Former Finance minister has served as former Home Minister also. I am sure he understands the nuances involved in national security. In countries like US and UK, soldiers are required to render only two of the of the six years in service because they want to keep the young fit and agile person at the borders," Sitharaman said.

She said there is no need to do politics over the scheme.

"I hope on matters related to the fitness and battle readiness of the Indian Army, we don't do politics. We need young, fit, battle-ready young people who are going to be trained. So Agniveer is a scheme that we brought in with great sense of commitment to keep our Armed forces battle-ready and young...One of the expected outcomes of the scheme is that armed forces will have a much younger force by recruiting those in the age group of 17-21 years. And I don't think there is a need for us to unnecessarily worry that this is causing some kind of distortion. Not at all. It is with the acceptance of the armed forces that it has been brought in."

Referring to the medical entrance exam NEET, she said it doesn't disadvantage anyone and in fact it expands opportunities.

"Tamil Nadu students secure 85% of seats with 69% reservation upheld & can also go 15% seats in other states also. They benefit from the All India Quota. In 2011, when the DMK rule concluded in Tamil Nadu, it had just 1945 medical seats. Presently, there are 10,425 medical seats, a remarkable surge of 8480 seats over the past 11 years. NEET has ensured cost-effective medical education for families," she said.

"It has hurt vested private interests, particularly those in the medical education field. Since there's no longer 'selling' of medical seats, that's why a particular lobby was against NEET, even before the NEET leak issue took place. In the year 2022-23, 12,997 Tamil Nadu Government School students wrote the NEET exam. Out of them 3982 students passed. It is noteworthy that the pass percentage has increased from 27% last year to 31%. Before NEET, only students from few schools from a selected regions of Tamil Nadu could get medical seats but now it's across the board," she added.

She said NEET was notified in December, 2010.

"It was led by the then DMK Minister Gandhi Selvan, who served as MoS for Health and Family Welfare as part of the Congress-led UPA II Government. In 2012, the UPA 2.0 introduced NEET (Under Graduate) for medical admissions. And in 2013, the first exam took place. The then ASG had defended NEET and said that "the earlier system of multiple examinations was neither in the national interest nor in the interest of maintaining the standards of medical education, nor did it serve the interest of poor/middle-class students who had to buy forms of several examinations and travel across the country to appear in multiple examinations," the Finance Minister said.

She said there was double-digit inflation during the Congress-led UPA government.

"After the global financial crisis of 2008, the UPA govt took stimuli measures to boost the economy. However, they did not know when and how to withdraw those measures leading to double-digit inflation, high fiscal deficit, high debt and crowding-out of investors between 2009-2013," she said.

"The government's fiscal management prowess is an observation of global observers, domain experts & dispassionate economists. Fiscal prudence has been maintained as one of the very important governance principles under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Becoming the fastest growing economy in a span of few years couldn't have been possible without the hardwork of everyone, irrespective of the sectors and the futuristic vision of PM Modi who leads us from the front," she added.

The minister said that BJP-led NDA government has implemented measures leading to a reduced average inflation of 4.5% from FY 2014-15 to FY2018-19, well within the RBI's target range of 2-6%.

"Moreover, India's inflation during 2020-2023 was much lower than the global average due to competent and proactive measures undertaken by our government to control inflation. We managed to contain inflation at 5.7% from FY2019-20 to FY2023-24 despite challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries faced 3 or 4 decade high double-digit inflation after COVID-19 pandemic. During NDA's period from 1999-2004, retail inflation was 3.8%. During UPA 1 period from 2004-2009, retail inflation was 6.0%. During UPA 2 period from 2009-2014, retail inflation was 10.2%. So, for UPA 1 & 2 put together from 2004-2014, it was 8.1%," she said.

She said the government has made the biggest ever allocation for capital expenditure.

"Capital expenditure is pegged at Rs 11.11 lakh crore. This is the biggest ever allocation for capital expenditure and it shows increase of about 17 percent over the RE and provisional actuals of the FY 2023-24. I would like to highlight one important fact about capital expenditure. During UPA era, Capex allocation was Rs 13.19 lakh crore between 2004-05 to 2013-14. Whereas during our tenure from 2014 to 2024, the allocation for Capex has been Rs 43.82 lakh crore from 2014-15 to 2023-24," she said.

Sitharaman said Finance Commission recommends the devolution of taxes as a percentage of the 'net proceeds', as defined in Article 279 of the Constitution and the net proceeds are calculated by deducting cesses, surcharges, the cost of collection from the gross tax receipts.

"It is wrong to calculate devolution based on gross tax receipts, and then claim that the Centre is devolving less than what is suggested by the Finance Commission."

The minister said that the Indian economy had come to be regarded as 'fragile 5'during UPA years.

"It is not just me who is talking about what kind of things happened then (during UPA) based on eminent people's words...One of the former Governor of Reserve Bank wrote in his book that the Finance Ministry used to pressurise the RBI to soften its interest rates and present a rosier picture of the growth to shore up sentiments...Fragile 5 economy is a fact which was before them, but they should not act on it instead, they put pressure on the RBI," she said.

Sitharaman said the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has discontinued the earlier practices of running hundis and overdrafts from J&K Bank for its day-to-day cash management.

"During last four years, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank was made a remarkable turnaround. From a loss of Rs 1139 crore in the year 2019-20, the Bank had a profit of Rs. 1700 crore in the year 2023-24. Capital expenditure of Jammu and Kashmir has also increased from Rs 10,634 crore in FY 2022-23 to Rs 12,101 crore in FY 2023-24 (provisional actual) recording a growth of 13.8%. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is in a healthy fiscal situation being able to meet the developmental aspirations of the people," she said.

Like her reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Sitharaman rejected allegations against the government of discriminating between states.

Sitharaman had said that Congress-led UPA government also did not name most of the states in the budgets presented by it.

Opposition parties have alleged that projects had been announced only for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in union budget and there was no mention of most other states.

"Many members have spoken about how they thought cooperative federalism only benefits a few states. I would like to humbly state that I am sure all the members know that in the budget speech not naming any state does not mean that no money goes to them. There was a misleading campaign that has been happening," she had said in Lok Sabha.

In her Budget speech in Parliament, Sitharaman announced projects for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. JD-U is in power in Bihar and TDP in Andhra Pradesh. The two parties are crucial for survival of BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

"Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the UPA government members, did money not go to those 17 states? Did it stop then? Did they have any business to ask this question? I presume they did not stop money going to those 17 states because they did not name it. In 2009-10, 26 states of India did not have a mention. +So, when it is something for them, it is alright. If the same thing happens somewhere else, then it is not right," Sitharaman had said in her Lok Sabha reply.

The minister told the Rajya Sabha that tax revenues have seen impressive growth.

"Efforts on metering have improved billing and collection efficiency in power sector, that has also resulted in non-tax revenues increasing from Rs 5,148 crores in 22-23 to Rs 6,500 crores in 23-24. It's a big reform step," she said.

Noting that the basic duty on crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil, and crude sunflower oil has been reduced from 2.5 per cent to nil, she said this measure allows crude oil to be imported into India for refining, creating jobs and ensuring the availability of edible oil in the country. (ANI)

Also Read: New Delhi: Agniveer scheme is opportunity to use technologically-abled soldiers: Retd. Colonel (sentinelassam.com)

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