Delhi remained island of robust economic fundamentals: LG
In his address marking the beginning of the Delhi assembly’s budget session, Saxena outlined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s education, health, social security, and welfare schemes
Lieutenant governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday said Delhi has remained an island of robust economic fundamentals even as the Covid-19 pandemic adversely impacted the economy.
In his address marking the beginning of the Delhi assembly’s five-day budget session, Saxena outlined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s education, health, social security, and welfare schemes.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers earlier briefly disrupted the speech as they protested in the House demanding chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s sacking over graft charges the AAP government faces.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel ordered that BJP lawmakers Anil Bajpai, Jitendra Mahajan, and OP Sharma be marshalled out while their colleagues staged a walkout.
Saxena said the government has over the last eight years provided good governance based on the principles of transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and sensitivity. “In spite of various constraints, my government has taken up a number of initiatives on various fronts and laid a strong edifice on which it can help build a developed and prosperous Delhi. As its commitment to the people, my government has tried its best to achieve excellence in every field of development.”
He said the per capita income of Delhi at current prices is estimated to have been ₹4,01,982 in 2021-22, registering an increase of 16.81% as compared to ₹3,44,136 in 2020-21.
“The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Delhi at current prices increased from ₹6,16,085 crores in 2016-17 to Rs.9,23,967 crores during 2021-22, registering a growth of 50%. The contribution of Delhi to national GDP (at current prices) is 4.22% as compared to its share of 1.52% in the total population of the country,” he said.
He said the share of the services sector in Delhi’s economy is about 83.94%. “The Delhi government is aiming to increase the percentage of the working population of Delhi from the current 33% to 45% in the next five years. My government has presented Rozgar Budget focused on generation of employment opportunities for the citizens of Delhi and helping the economy recover from the losses due to Covid-19, GST and demonetisation.”
He said priority has been given to the retail sector, food and beverages, logistics and supply chain, travel and tourism, entertainment, construction, real estate, electronics, electric vehicles, and green energy for creating new jobs.
