Interim Budget 2019: Student leaders say no talk of jobs, to march to Parliament tomorrow

Student leaders accused the Union government of presenting an Interim Budget that was silent on the issue of jobs and employment opportunities for youth in the country. Students under various outfits will march from the historic Red Fort to Parliament on Thursday in protest, they said in a joint statement.

N Sai Balaji, the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union, said, “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi will come to young India for one more chance. But this time we are not going to give him any chance as our PM. Modi has ruined our future. Through our unity we are going to ensure all vacant government jobs are filled, 10 per cent of GDP is spent on education, gender and social justice is ensured.”

Student leaders from AISA, Pinjra tod, Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, Aam Aadmi Party students’ wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), Youth for Swaraj, etc. argued how the budget was conspicuous by its silence on the issue of jobs, except for pompously declaring that job-seekers have turned job-creators in India.

“This is a huge blow to the youth of the country who are suffering from the massive unemployment rate in the wake of demonetisation. The budget is equally silent about the key demands of regularisation and minimum wages raised by employees,” they said in the statement.

Shivani from CYSS said campuses have been turned into “war zones” by the Modi government.