Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday delivered a pointed critique of the newly proposed Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme during a session in Rajya Sabha. Expressing mixed reactions, Chidambaram commended the government for adopting ideas from his party's manifesto but simultaneously questioned the efficacy and transparency of the scheme.
?I?m particularly happy that she (Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) had an opportunity to read the Congress manifesto. I would urge friends on treasury benches to read the Congress manifesto so that in your party meetings, you can persuade the prime minister and the finance minister to take some more ideas from our manifesto,? Chidambaram remarked, his tone both sardonic and challenging.
?Copying is not prohibited in this house; in fact, copying is encouraged, rewarded in this house. Please copy a little more,? he added, making light of the situation while implicitly criticizing the originality of the government?s initiatives.
Delving deeper into policy specifics, Chidambaram questioned the rationale behind the shift from the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to the ELI scheme. He suggested that this change might indicate that the PLI scheme did not meet its intended job creation targets.
"When you introduced the employment-linked incentive - it must be for some reason. I suspected the PLI scheme didn't create the kind of jobs you wanted to create," he said, urging Sitharaman to present concrete outcomes from the PLI scheme to better evaluate the new ELI?s potential.
Chidambaram?s main concern revolved around the lack of clarity and assurance regarding the ELI?s implementation and its ambitious goals. He questioned whether the scheme could realistically place 290 lakh people in employment, as claimed by the government.
"Neither I nor any of my learned colleagues are able to get a whole picture of the ELI. It is an interesting idea, but it does not inspire confidence that you'll be able to place 290 lakh people under the ELI," he warned. He further urged the government to avoid making the ELI another "election jumla," referring to the unfulfilled promise of creating 2 crore jobs.
