On Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman argued in favor of financial literacy education in schools and universities.
She stressed the need of teaching financial literacy at a young age. It is now being taught outside of the curriculum, the Finance Minister stated during a discussion with students at A M Jain College here on the theme “Transforming India Into The New Decade.”
“You have institutions like the RBI, SEBI and also some national security depositories. Financial literacy lessons are online too, spread over a couple of weeks, if you want to take that. But it should be taught in schools and colleges as part of the curriculum,” she said.
Ms Sitharaman responded to a question by saying that there is no harm in importing raw materials or intermediary products for a rising economy if the goal is to become a manufacturing powerhouse.
“Ideally I would like to have the exports more than the imports because it gives earnings. But if imports is going to gradually improve your exports, why not. If imports are there, it’s good sometimes,” she said.
On defence production, Ms Sitharaman said apart from making budgetary provisions to encourage indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment required for our armed forces, the Centre ensured that the products made by the MSMEs were certified by the Indian army in order to facilitate exports. Moreover, a mechanism to purchase products for 10 years was also in place, she added.
Ms Sitharaman quoted Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as saying that defense equipment exports, which were 20,000 crore this year, are expected to surpass the 24,000 crore objective in three months.
In answer to another query, the Union Minister stated that talks were ongoing with African nations, Russia, and Sri Lanka over bilateral commerce in Indian rupees.
Denying that artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate employment, she stated that technology would open the path for the rise of specialized labor to address difficulties in a variety of industries.
“You need people with expertise in AI. To use AI you need to develop the tools with which you can exploit the capacity of AI. Obviously, it will be done by people like you students,” Ms Sitharaman said.
Certain new subject expertise that emerges would produce a wide range of individuals and abilities with which AI could be used, according to the Finance Minister.
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