Chidambaram flays job schemes, highlights unemployment ‘crisis’

New Delhi, July 24

Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to give clarity on the employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme proposed by her in the Budget speech on Tuesday.

He asked if the proposed ELI has been mooted as the existing production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes have failed to generate employment, while mocking Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for lifting ideas from the Congress manifesto for the ELI scheme.

“I suspect that the PLI scheme didn’t create the kind of jobs you wanted,” the former union finance minister said. Taking part in the discussion on the Budget proposals, Chidambaram urged Sitharaman to disclose the PLI scheme’s outcomes to provide context for evaluating the ELI’s potential.

Chidambaram said he was concerned about the lack of clarity and confidence in the ELI’s execution and its ambitious targets.