'India's focus to be on digitization & skill development' says Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 11 April 2023

To improve living conditions, transparency, and economic formalization, India will put more emphasis on skill development and digitization, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who noted that the nation is almost at capacity in terms of providing basic services to its citizens.

The government's strategy, according to Nirmala Sitharaman, who spoke at a fireside chat at the Peterson Institute for International Economic think tank, is to provide the impoverished with at least the most basic facilities. The provision of the most basic amenities in India is almost at capacity, she claimed. She remarked that the preceding conversations had previously focused on reducing poverty.

“Have we raised this large several people out of poverty?” she asked. Nirmala Sitharaman spoke on the services the Indian government wants to offer to the nation's underprivileged citizens. "And that is to provide them with a decent home to live in, one with a concrete roof instead of a thatched roof, toilets inside, drinking water reaching them through pipes, electricity, and a good road, not just to the village but also to the streets in the village, and then connect them with good transport facility and so on and financial inclusion so that each member of the household has a bank account and they receive every such benefit"

"Therefore, in each of them, we are approaching saturation, which means if there were 100 individuals who were currently qualified to get them, they would receive; we are close to 98 points. Naturally, as the population develops, more individuals may be added, and we will continue to care for them”, Nirmala Sitharaman said. She claimed that developing people's skills was a major concern in India.

"We are now placing a lot of emphasis on skilled individuals, each following their level. There are currently several skill centres located around the nation. The degree of skilling varies depending on the person. It is also linked to businesses and private sector entrepreneurs so that there is a connection between the type of training that businesses seek and the real people who are receiving the training so that they may be hired right away. A lot of focus will be placed on skill development”, the minister stated.

“The majority of our lives will be digitized as part of India's full-throttle digitization effort. These days, it also includes financial transactions, health, and education. To improve living conditions and make the economy even more formal, we anticipate it expanding to other sectors as well. And as a result, rather than having a second layer that remains in the shadows, you find that the economy is now operating at full vigour”, Nirmala Sitharaman continued.