Nirmala draws from Basveshwara philosophy

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday dwelved deeply into social reformer Basveshara's principles of ‘Kayakave Kailasa’ (work is worship) to announce the enhanced focus of the government to skill youth in new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, 3D Printing and robotics among others.

In her first Budget speech, Nirmala said that the government recognises and follows the teachings of Lord Basveshwara, in particular the principles of 'Kayaka' and 'Dasoha' (feeding).

A social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman and a Kannada poet in the Bhakti movement.

Union Budget 2019 | Get the live news updates, views & analysis here

Nirmala said that the Modi regime is implementing ‘Kayakave Kailasa’ that enabled around one crore youth to take up industry-relevant skill training through the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). This is helping to create a large pool of skilled manpower with speed and high standards, she said.

"Demographic trends worldwide show that major economies will face severe labour shortages in the future. To prepare our youth to also take up jobs overseas, we will increase focus on skill sets needed abroad including language training. We will also lay focus on new-age skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Big Data, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality and Robotics, which are valued highly both within and outside the country, and offer much higher remuneration," she said.

Drawing again on Lord Basveshwara, she said, his principle of Dasoha underlines most things the Modi government does.

"'Give It Up’ for giving up LPG subsidy or the various pension schemes are on the principle of sharing through distribution, for the wellness of the society, she added.

She also said the government is proposing to streamline multiple labour laws into a set of four labour codes.

This will ensure that process of registration and filing of returns will get standardised and streamlined, she said with various labour related definitions getting standardised, it is expected that there shall be less disputes.