The misguided economic policies of the Narendra Modi-led Central government have led to the shambolic state of the Indian economy, Congress national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member M.V. Rajeev Gowda said in Pune on Wednesday.
Remarking that job creation was in a “comatose” state while economic and agricultural growth is on “ventilator” support, he said, “The Modi government is one long series of blunders and mismanagement. In Pune, which is the hub of the auto industry, if one goes to the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad and asks how many factories are still running to full strength and what is the job loss situation, one will receive shocking answers … it will make you wonder how a government which is so incompetent is able to continually get away [with it] because nobody is holding them to account,” Mr. Gowda, a noted academic, said.
He asserted that it was only because of the opposition led by the Congress that the Prime Minister had backtracked from signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
“This mega free trade agreement (FTA) with China and 15 other countries would have made India a dumping ground for Chinese and other foreign products and goods had it not been for our continual opposition … But we also have to be careful about what other FTAs Mr. Modi may try to sign with other countries at the cost of Indian interests,” the Congress MP from Karnataka said.
Remarking that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had turned India’s demographic dividend into a demographic disaster, Mr. Gowda said the National Sample Survey Office figures showed unemployment to be at a 45-year high and still climbing.
“According to the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy, the unemployment rate, which stood at 8.19% in August, has now risen to 8.5%. Even globally, as per the International Labour Organisation, the unemployment rate is 4.95%. It means that India’s unemployment rate is the double of world’s average,” he said. “This means the more literate you are, the more unemployed you are.”
Accusing the BJP of trying to sell the country’s interests at every step by sacrificing financial independence and economic stability, the Congressman ticked off the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for its hypocrisy.
“On the one hand, RSS leaders advise the youth that begging, too, is employment and the Prime Minister considers making pakoda s employment. On the other hand, the company owned by Jay Shah, (son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah) increases its income by a staggering 15,000% in less than five years,” he said.
“The truth is that the BJP government has demolished the educational edifice and employment avenues for the young in India. New private investments have hit a 16-year low, while household savings are at a 20-year low … India’s overall savings rate has declined to 30% from 34.6% earlier,” Mr. Gowda said.
Hitting out at the government’s apathy towards the interests of farmers, he said instead of the promised 50% cost plus minimum support price (MSP), farmers had been left at the mercy of market forces.
“In the current kharif season, crops are selling at 8% to 37% below MSP. The BJP has imposed a tax on agriculture by putting GST on fertilisers, tractors and agriculture equipment and pesticides… as a result, farmers are bearing this double whammy of no MSP for their crops plus huge doses of taxation vis-à-vis the agriculture inputs. With agriculture exports in a free fall or facing restrictions, things are getting from bad to worse,” Mr. Gowda said.
Published - November 06, 2019 10:08 pm IST
