In a first, Delhi to conduct audit of jobs created with taxpayers' money

The Delhi government will conduct a survey to ascertain how many people got employment as a result of expenditure incurred on different programmes and schemes, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said while presenting Delhi's budget for the financial year 2022-23 on Saturday.

This will be the first such employment audit in the country along with the general outcome of the work done with the tax money of the public, he said.

"Every rupee of the budget passed by this House, whether that money is being spent in the field of education and health or is being used to build roads, buildings, bridges, schools, hospitals, colleges, electricity, water system, call centres, art culture etc... a complete account of how many people got employment as a result of every rupee spent will be kept," said Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Finance Minister.

"For this, the government is coming up with a plan of employment audit of each department. This in itself will be the first step in the country," the deputy chief minister said.

With an aim of creating 20 lakh new jobs in the next five years, Sisodia presented a Rs 75,800-crore "Rozgar Budget" for the financial year 2022-23 which focuses on setting up an electronic city and promoting night economy, retail and wholesale markets in the national capital.

The government has identified priority sectors for job creation -- food and beverages, logistics and supply chain, travel and tourism, entertainment, construction, real estate and green energy.

Under the "Rozgar Budget", the Kejriwal government will organise shopping festivals to promote retail and wholesale markets in the city, seeking to make these places attractive for tourists and create jobs to boost the economy. An amount of Rs 250 crore has been allocated for this in the 2022-23 budget.

Sisodia said an artificial intelligence-based website and a mobile application -- "Rozgar Bazaar 2.0" -- will be launched with an aim to provide at least one lakh jobs every year to the youngsters of Delhi, especially women.

An electronic city will be set up at Baprola to create 80,000 jobs by attracting big IT companies, Sisodia said, adding that a "food truck policy" will also be introduced under which local delicacies will be promoted.

These food trucks will be allowed on streets from 8 pm to 2 am, a move that is aimed at promoting the night economy in the national capital.

The government will develop Asia's largest textile trading centre in Gandhinagar into "Delhi Garment Hub" which is expected to create more than 40,000 jobs in the next five years.

The budget emphasised rebuilding Delhi's non-conforming industrial areas, redeveloping popular food hubs and setting up Cloud Kitchen Clusters in Delhi.

The government also aims to create "green jobs" in Delhi by promoting schemes like e-vehicle, solar energy and urban farming.

Sisodia also announced a Delhi Film Policy and International Film Festival in the capital to generate employment and business opportunities related to tourism and art and culture.

About Rs 4,500 crore will be required for these programmes during the next five years. An outlay of Rs 800 crore has been proposed in the first year (2022-23), he said.