#Budget2024 | More emphasis should be put on rural infrastructure, says CII President Designate Sanjiv Puri.
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00:00 The focus of the government through various policy instruments, through the budgets has
00:06 been on sustainable and inclusive development and that's visible in multiple dimensions.
00:12 If you look at the various indices, they're all moving forward and we've actually seen some good
00:17 path-breaking stuff happen over several years in the past and that's why the economy is doing so
00:23 well. But the reality is that we've all been challenged by COVID and then the challenges of
00:33 the geopolitical situation which created an enormous amount of inflation in the economy
00:39 and we're also faced with climate emergency on account of the excessive emissions in the
00:47 developed economies and all this puts its stress in the economy, in pockets of the economy and
00:54 that's why in some pockets we're seeing that the progress is not as much as in other pockets.
01:00 And rural is one area, I think you're right that and the government is already focusing on it but
01:05 this is an area where I think perhaps more could be done, more could be done by way of
01:10 rural infrastructure, improving resilience of agriculture through better coverage of irrigation,
01:16 to collectively in a public-private partnership working together through what we call as a
01:22 climate smart agriculture to build resilience. There are also opportunities opening up through
01:28 the new policy reform on leasing forest land to private sector to create productive capacity
01:36 and today because of the growth of certain sectors like say the real estate, India is actually having
01:41 to import more amount of wood. So, if once this is enforced with an economic model that will
01:48 immediately create employment and these are some of the enablers I would say already in place,
01:53 we need to progress that and maybe in certain areas press the pedal a little more and ultimately I
02:00 think we will get the kind of results that are anticipated. True, Mr. Puri but the concern or
02:07 you know the spoiler seems to be things like patchy rainfall, something which we experienced
02:14 last year contributes to rural distress and then of course there are many other factors.
02:18 What can the government do to mitigate this in terms of a policy direction
02:24 and address issues like unemployment in a more cohesive fashion?
02:33 So, you know that's what I alluded to in my response. I said as far as the weather events
02:40 are concerned which have a disproportionate impact on the agricultural value chains
02:44 and we have to really you know continue the path that the government is taking and perhaps
02:51 you know do more there in a spirit of public-private partnership. All of us need to
02:56 come together. It's about improving penetration of irrigation, it's being disseminating the
03:02 information on weather and educating farmers on the practices comprehensively you know over a
03:09 period of time bringing in Climate Smart Agriculture, the R&D to build resilience in
03:13 the agri-value chains. I think these are the things that need to be done, rainwater harvesting
03:18 amongst others. These are issues that are already being addressed through various policy interventions.
03:24 I think collectively we need to come together and perhaps see how we can make faster progress
03:28 on it. That's really the point I'm making. As far as employment is concerned, I think you know
03:34 again we must keep in mind that many indices on the positive track, even if you look at the
03:40 women participation rate in labour, that is also on an upward track. Yes, but India does have a lot
03:47 more youth, so we do need to strengthen incomes in the farm area. We do need to create other
03:55 opportunities and I think the focus through PLI to make India into a manufacturing hub,
04:00 to also revitalise certain industries that have high employment multipliers like the toys and
04:09 textiles, I think these are the areas that will provide value. And to support this, CIL also
04:15 suggested some kind of an employment-linked incentive, so that provides an impetus to
04:23 industry that is a large employer.
04:25 [Music]