Mumbai: On 3 February, India TV hosted the Samvad Budget Conclave 2023 in New Delhi. The event brought together top ministers from the ruling party and opposition leaders to discuss and analyze the Union Budget 2023, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented on 1 February. The Finance Minister made an appearance on India TV's Aap Ki Adalat during the conclave where she answered pointed questions from Rajat Sharma about the Adani controversy, ED raids, and harsh criticism of the government from Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, P. Chidambaram and other opposition leaders.
Sitharaman explained the budget and addressed the criticisms from the opposition. Other well known cabinet members, such as Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, responded to inquiries about
their respective ministries and the Budget in general.
In her first guarded response to the current Adani crisis, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that it had nothing to do with the government and that regulators were looking into it. She said she couldn't comment without first checking the data in response to a story that foreign institutional investors had pulled several billion dollars out of the Indian market, but said a number of variables, including the US Fed interest rates, might have contributed.
Opposition leaders expressed their displeasure, with Congress leader Ajay Maken claiming that the budget was not intended for the middle class and benefited only the top 1% of the population. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal defended the budget, calling it a 'bridge' and 'foundation' budget to transform India into a developed country by 2047.
The first bullet train in India will begin service in August 2026, according to Railway, IT and Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The first hydrogen train will begin testing on Indian tracks by December of this year. Additionally, he declared that Vande Metro trains will operate as shuttles on a 100 km stretch
between cities, following the model of comparable intercity trains in Europe. Randeep Singh Surjewala, a leader in Congress, questioned the government's policies, claiming that the common people were having issues with unemployment and inflation. Gourav Vallabh, a spokesperson for the Congress, criticized the government's actions and its silence regarding the Hindenburg
report.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri called the budget a 'bridge' to India's goal of becoming the world's second-largest economy by 2040. Both the BJP and the Congress were represented on the conclave's speaker panel.
The 'Samvad Budget Conclave 2023' on India TV provided a vibrant platform for prominent leaders to engage in a lively and insightful discussion on the Union Budget 2023, with the goal of making the budget accessible and understandable to the general public.
