Budget 2023: Varanasi handloom workers pin hope of getting electricity subsidy

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 30 : Handloom workers of Varanasi expect subsidy for electricity for their business when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2023-24 on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on February 1.
Ahead of the Union Budget for fiscal 2023-24, ANI reached out to a few people in Varanasi regarding their ideas and expectations around the Budget this year.
Abdul Kalam Azad, a handloom worker said that workers of the sector expect the government to bring back the old subsidized rates.

"75 per cent 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 fulfils 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 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.