Raghav Chadha, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party and the youngest appointee to the Rajya Sabha, stressed on the key issues including unemployment, and the spirit of competitive federalism amongst states while vying for foreign investment.

While speaking to CNBC-TV18 at Davos, Chadha said, "It could perhaps be competitive federalism, where every state wants a pie of this investment pudding and they have come here to try their luck. I have met with a lot of senior bureaucrats including chief ministers from various states who have descended on this small town. So, I hope that next year Punjab and Delhi will also be able to showcase their investment opportunities."

On key issues in Punjab and Delhi, he added that under the Arvind Kejriwal government, 94 percent of household received piped water supply network. "Leakages have been plugged and 956 MGD of water production in a landlocked city like Delhi is happening now,” he said.

Punjab is facing a lot of issues ranging from agriculture to the supply of electricity, which has been erratic. Th state has been buying electricity at obnoxious rates going up to Rs 17-18 per unit. The state is also witnessing huge unemployment, massive problem of drug addiction. Chadha said the AAP government is trying to find solutions to these key issues.

On unemployment, he said, "Unemployment is an issue that cannot be solved with one single bullet solution, there is no silver bullet to it. Several methods, trying and testing need to be adopted. Punjab ranks among the topmost unemployed states in the country. Punjab’s unemployment also stems from the fact that the youth has gotten stuck in this vicious cycle of drugs, lack of unemployment, lack of employment opportunities, drugs, etc. So, standalone solutions are being looked at currently.”

He added that bringing in the industry is the lowest hanging fruit and is just a part of the solution, but a lot of innovative thinking needs to go into solving the problem of unemployment.

First Published:May 24, 2022 2:36 PM IST