Opposition tears into govt’s picture of a rosy economy
Major Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha attacked the government yesterday over the dismal state of the economy of India, taking the help of data, most of which have come from the government itself.
The occasion for the debate was a short duration discussion called by the government on the economic situation in the country, on a demand from the Opposition.
Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien said the economy had performed in favour of the rich, with the richest 1 per cent controlling 40 per cent of the country’s wealth.
Further, “from 2014 to 2023, the price of rice has gone up by 56 per cent, wheat by 59 per cent, milk by 61 per cent and tur dal by 120 per cent,” he said.
He also referred to the 21 lakh workers under the MGNREGA Scheme who had not received their wages for the last two years.
Going forward with his scathing attack, he said around 150 farmers are committing suicide every day and the country has 23 crore poor people, the highest for any country.
Congress veteran P Chidambaram, a former finance minister himself, said though the GDP grew 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2023-24, as per official figures, its effects were not visible on the ground: “[W]hy is it not seen in inflation numbers and unemployment rate?”, he asked.
Quoting official Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) figures, he said the Workers Population Ratio (WPR), the share of working people in the population, was around 46 per cent (the average of 69 per cent for men and 22 per cent for women).
Less than 50 per cent of this 46 per cent actually work, though; and of those who are employed, 57 per cent are self-employed, which means their earning is low.
The unemployment rate for graduates below 25 years of age is 42 per cent, he said.
Other comments
Biju Janata Dal leader Sujit Kumar: India was witnessing jobless growth and harped on the need for the government to support the MSME sector, a major creator of jobs.
YSR Congress Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy: The depreciating rupee against the US dollar was alarming for India as it has affected foreign investment.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha: That 80 crore people are being provided food by the government itself exposes the latter’s tall claims about growth. Bangladesh and Nepal have performed better than India in reducing income inequality.
Weak reply by government
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her reply to the debate today harped on the country’s second quarter growth (July-September) in FY24 of 7.6 per cent, which she said was the highest in the world.
“All developed economies are showing a contractionary manufacturing PMI, in comparison. Everyone, US, Euro Zone, Canada, Australia, China, etc. are all in the contractionary territory, while we are moving forward,’ she said.
The manufacturing sector is contributing 13.9 per cent to the economy. Direct tax collection has grown by 21.82 per cent this year and monthly GST collections have stabilised at Rs 1.6 lakh crore. These, she said, were signs of economic growth.
However, as P Chidambaram tweeted later, the finance minister could not provide answers to his three direct posers yesterday (given below), implying her speech was simply targeted to deflect criticism, but it performed poorly in that.
- Will the GDP double to Rs 200 lakh crore (in constant prices) in the 10 years of the NDA government by 2023-24?
- According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the proportions of children malnourished, stunted and wasted are unacceptably high. Why?
- Why have net financial assets of households dipped to a historic low of 5.1 per cent?
