‘The Idea Is To Encourage People To Spend More To Generate Jobs'

A day after presenting the ‘Rozgar Budget’, deputy CM and finance minister Manish Sisodia discussed with TOI’s Atul Mathur and Sidhartha Roy the roadmap for creating 20 lakh jobs in five years, welfare of gig workers, shortfall in revenue collection and increased allocation for the water sector. Excerpts:

- Atul Mathur and Sidhartha Roy

SISODIA SAYS

We are concerned about GST compensation. We need GST compensation of Rs 10,000-12,000 crore a year. We are getting a part of it (from the Centre). But we don’t know how to cover the gap

What is your roadmap for creating two million jobs in five years?

There are two approaches worldwide for creating jobs. The first is supporting the supply side by investing in big industries and giving them subsidies and offering tax returns, which has its inherent flaws. After thorough research, we chose the other model, which is supporting the demand side. This model has been tried worldwide and has produced good results. Give people jobs so that they have disposable money to spend, which leads to increased demand and ultimately generates new jobs.

We received about 6,500 suggestions on the budget from the public and most mentioned the need for government intervention to improve the economy, supporting markets and creating jobs. Since we cannot set up big industries, we have decided to support markets by organising shopping festivals. The per capita income of Delhiites is already good and if we manage to bring it back to the market, it will create new jobs. We held several meetings with market associations and arrived at a figure of how many jobs could be created with each intervention.

But most jobs that you have promised seem to be in the unorganised sector.

There is an imaginary line drawn between unskilled jobs and white-collar jobs. There is a preconceived notion among people that they must have a college degree for a respectable job. In developed countries, youngsters do skill training after completing school and get good jobs. We are talking about the youth living in slums and unauthorised colonies who want to earn a living through dignified jobs.