New Delhi:
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman,who would be presenting her forthcoming Budget on Feb 1, has said health would take top priority going forward as the government would look to provide not just buildings for hospitals but the technology and infrastructure apart from improving the availability of doctors and nurses to service the industry..
“Health and investment in health is going to be absolutely critical, not just to keep our lives safer but also to make health and health-related expenditures more predictable, for people not to do it out of pocket,” Sitharaman said.in a virtual address to a Confederation of Indian Industry conference, on Friday
While investment in health, medical Research & Development (R&D) and developing greater skills to handle telemedicine is going to be critical, livelihood challenges would have to be seen in a newer canvas with newer perspective on vocational training and skill development.
"Send me your inputs so that we can see a Budget which is a Budget like never before, in a way. 100 years of India wouldn't have seen a Budget being made post pandemic like this. "And that is not going to be possible unless I get your inputs and wish list, clear observation of what has put you through the challenge.Without that, it is impossible for me to draft something which is going to be that Budget like never before, a Budget which is being made after a pandemic," Sitharaman said
“Considering our size, the population and the potential that India holds, for a good growth-related building of our economy, I won't hesitate here to say that we shall be the engine of global growth, along with a few other countries,” she said.
Sitharaman said the country would have moved a lot more forward in terms of digitisation and would be a dominant global player in the fintech industry.
“India would have moved a lot more on digitisation. India would have its signature on anything to do with fintech globally,” she said.
“India and its manufacturing would be probably already on a new platform, in the sense Indian industries would have adapted to great levels of technology,” Sitharaman said, adding, “You would also probably find that India would be leaders in infrastructure building, both private and public.”
Sitharaman said the way in which jobs are created will go through a massive change, with ‘working from home’ becoming a culture. Continued and justifiable anxiety that women’s participation in the workforce is not adequate needed to be looked at, she said. “We will be a country where 60% of population is going to be under 30 years of age, which is a blessing, and we have to provide them with the right kind of skills. Vocational training has to be given with a new perspective,” she said.
India was also very fortunate to have the capacity to produce as much of the vaccine as required domestically and more for exports to chosen countries.
.Speaking on the vaccine production, she said, “We in India, have the capacity to be able to produce as much (of the vaccine) as we require and more for exports to countries where we choose to extend this facility for humanity's sake.”