The finance minister added that the Central government is not hurrying to sell public units and will continue to have a presence in four strategic sectors, including telecom.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India has become an attractive investment destination as advanced economies consider India right for “friendshoring” because of its skilled youth power, captive domestic market, technology-driven public investments and rule of law.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2023, held in New Delhi, Sitharaman said: “You can speak against the government, you can speak against the Prime Minister, but then, you are there to do your business. So, there is no picking you up and disappearing from the world, none of that happens. Businesses are respected for what they do.”
Talking about India’s resilience despite global headwinds due to recession, Sitharaman said the country has the “right combinations” that matter for robust growth. “India has youth power, a middle-class that gives a captive market with certain purchasing power, technology-driven public investments in areas such as infrastructure, health education and fintech and oft-repeated but understated rule of law,” she said.
She added that the government is not hurrying to sell public units and will continue to have a presence in four strategic sectors, including telecom.
Sitharaman in the latest Budget announced that the government will raise Rs 51,000 crore by selling stakes in various state-run companies in FY24. This is marginally higher than the current year ending on March 31, 2023. In the last budget, the government intended to raise Rs 65,000 crore through divestments, which was later revised to Rs 50,000 crore.
As per the government’s PSE Policy, the four broad strategic sectors are – atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunication; Power, Petroleum, Coal and other minerals; and Banking, Insurance, and Financial Services.
In strategic sectors, a bare minimum presence of the existing public sector commercial enterprises at the holding company level will be retained under government control, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday accused the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of internationalising the Kashmir issue by taking it to the United Nations. She targeted the Congress on the issue while replying to a discussion on the Budget (2022-23) for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in Rajya Sabha.
“It is an issue which should not have gone to a global forum. It is essentially an Indian issue. We could have handled it. We are handling it, and we are showing the difference now,” she said.
In response, Congress MP Anand Sharma said: “I would like to set the record straight. If the matter was taken to the UN Security Council, the issue was whether there would be a cessation of the military conflict or not. India did not accept the plebiscite.”
“The UN Observers’ Office was never given that sanctity. India conducted elections. There were elected governments in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Not only that, we fought wars and we made it very clear repeatedly, and this has been India’s consistent position, prior to 2014, that Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral part of the sovereign state of India,” he added.
Sitharaman also said the terror activities in J&K have declined by 61% since the abrogation of Article 370. “In 2021, the kind of figures we have achieved, I want to show that there has been an overall decline in activities that disturbed peace. There has been a 33 per cent drop in infiltration attempts (51 in 2020 versus 34 in 2021), 90 per cent decrease in ceasefire violations (937 in 2020 versus 98 in 2021). Terror-related incidents came down from 244 in 2020 to 229 in 2021. There was 80 per cent decline in abductions by terrorists (from 10 in 2020 to two in 2021). The casualties involving police and security personnel saw a slide of 33 per cent (from 63 in 2020 to 42 in 2021). So, activities which have troubled Jammu and Kashmir for a very long time are on a decline,” she said.
Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/india/nehru-kashmir-issue-un-sitharaman-rajya-sabha-7833555/?utm_source=whatsapp_web&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialsharebuttons