Budget 2023: Varanasi hand-loom employees insert hope on obtaining electricity subsidy

Varanasi handloom workers anticipate receiving electricity subsidies to support their operations when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivers the Union Budget 2023–24. Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of finance, will deliver the Union Budget. ANI contacted a few people in Varanasi to learn more about their opinions and anticipations for the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2023–24. Abdul Kalam Azad, a handloom worker said that workers of the sector expect the government to bring back the old subsidized rates.

"75 percent of people of the city are associated with the handloom business. Our biggest challenge is electricity, few years back, the bill used to be Rs 75 per loom, it was the subsidized rate. Later it was 500 But now it is Rs 300. We expect the government to bring back the old subsidized rates," Azad said.

"If the government fulfills our demand, our business of power loom will grow here. We can save some of our earnings," he added. Citing a similar problem, another handloom worker Mohammed Haneef Hansari said, "Power must become subsidized like before. People are quitting this industry and are taking other jobs. Government must help us or else our business will decline further."

Banarasi saree manufacturers and other people associated with handloom work are weathering the market fluctuations caused by Covid and have major hopes with this Union Budget. "We should be provided with electricity properly. I agree that the government is providing all the necessary facilities to us, but we don't get them due to corruption. So government should do something about this. We want to sell out products to the government directly and demand to make a solution for this," Karimuddin Ansari.

However, the Union Budget 2023-24 may be the last full budget before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Like the previous two Union Budgets, the one for fiscal 2023-24 will also be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in paperless form.

The first part of the session will be held from January 31 and will go on till February 13. It will see the debate in both Houses on the 'Motion of Thanks to the President's address which will conclude with a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Parliament will reconvene after a recess for parliamentary committees to discuss the demand for grants of various ministries. The second part will begin on March 13 and will continue till April 6.

The Money Bill is passed after a discussion on the demand for grants and it marks the culmination of the budget process. During the Monsoon Session, nine bills were passed by both Houses of Parliament.

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