2024 is a significant election year. The citizens of roughly eighty countries go to the booths this year to cast their votes in what is being described as a momentous year for democracy across the globe. As elections draw closer, all eyes are on the interim budget to be presented by the Finance Minister of India, Ms Nirmala Seetharaman, on 1 Feb 2024.
Various sectors and industries have been sharing demands of different kinds that must be included in the interim budget that will predate the General Elections only by a couple of months. The demographic of young people will be crucial both in terms of vote share for political parties in the fray as well as the aspirational goals of the nation vying for a $10 trillion economy by the end of the decade. Even so, young people’s participation in budgetary conversation remains limited.
Here is a look at what might be five key sectors and policy points that might be valuable for India’s youth as yet another budget is at the doorstep.
1. Education
The budget outlays for education consistently dropped from 2015-16 to 2022-23. This trend has been reversed in the last two budgets, with the largest ever outlay in the 2023-2024 budget presented last year. This trend could be expected to continue, given that the Government of India is in the implementation phase of the new National Education Policy. However, it is vital to investigate the disaggregation of the data and analyse the impacts, specifically on school and higher education. Higher educational institutions in India have consistently been facing resource crunches. It would be ideal for the government to invest more in this sector, given the slow economic movements in the labour market, which is already pushing more young adults to choose between underemployment/unemployment and additional qualifications to improve their chances in the market.
2. Health
Health remains a crucial area for the Government of India to focus on. Four years after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the priorities of the State have changed massively in the intervening years. The time is ripe to bring it back to improve the allocation for public health systems. It will be critical to continue the trend of higher allocation for health spending in the country, not just to improve the systems that are currently in place but also to ensure preparedness for health emergencies that have been on the rise due to climate change. A large section of India, especially the youth, is dealing with a monumental share of mental health challenges. This prompts more allocation for mental health support, including revamping nationally sponsored schemes such as the National Tele-Mental Health Programme (T-MANAS).
3. Jobs
The poor performance of the job market has started to bite even the creamiest layer of job hunters in India, with top B-schools and the Indian Institute of Technologys having limited takers for their students. The economy desperately needs employment-linked incentive schemes not just for the manufacturing sector but also for the services sector. It seems like India should turn its attention laser-sharp to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector to craft product-linked incentive schemes that can have the trickle-down effect of improving employment opportunities for a more significant number of people spread across the country, as against focusing exclusively on large enterprises which are charging ahead with automation. Tourism will also continue to be a sector worth tracking, with the trend of uptick in both domestic and international tourists. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship could be a key stakeholder worth watching and, in turn, raise demands from. These sectors continue to operate in addition to the sectors where the government is the largest employer, such as the railways, which also have a critical role in an economy struggling with jobless growth.
4. Technology
Technology is India’s big bet for growth. The late 90s and 2000s gave India the software boom, which continues to employ people, even though the quality of such employment has been facing the heat lately. India is keen on taking the global mantle of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). It wants to pitch itself as the global leader, as it has done during its G20 presidency. This implies that budget-watchers can expect more DPI positioning even in the interim budget. It opens avenues for new ideas, but the concerns around its ownership, privacy risks, and surveillance potential should not be brushed aside. Young people already realise that the ease of everyday life powered by digital means will come at the cost of their privacy and the adjacent concerns about ownership of their data and the infrastructures that support these frameworks. The allocation to the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology will be crucial to see how business and growth interests are managed alongside privacy, and research and development concerns. The budget will also consider Artificial intelligence as an emerging sector and potentially present outlays for indigenous Large Language Models, cybersecurity tools and even upskilling in these emerging areas for potential employment.
5. Climate
Calamities and disasters have been characteristic of 2023. The year began with the subsidence in Joshimath and was the country’s second-hottest year ever recorded. Droughts have been a mainstay, and many parts of the country have not seen snowfall during peak winter. These trends are here to stay, and governmental interventions will only increase. Critical areas of intervention beyond the initiatives at the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change are essential. It would be helpful to look at the budget from a holistic perspective of how it tackles climate change across sectors through incentives that can minimise environmental harm and subsidise steps that will help combat the challenge in the medium and long term. Disaster management, renewable energy, agriculture, and technology for sustainability are areas ripe for government interventions through larger and pointed budget outlays that can bring relief to the ultimate bearers of climate change consequences who always happen to occupy the margins of the society. A circular economy analysis of the budget can also feed into understanding how much India is working towards its global commitments on sustainability.
The abovementioned key sectors may well encapsulate what areas young people might prefer concentrating on as the finance minister presents the budget. However, the real impact of the same will remain to be analysed on its intersectional effects, especially considering how the budget treats women and its stance on affirmative actions towards people of very many marginalisations, including those of gender, caste, religion, and disabilities. A budget that addresses the concerns of Indian youth will need to accommodate the varied realities of the youth in the country and not consider them a homogenous entity.