Country facing crises due to Modi government's economic-mismanagement, disastrous policies
Former PM Manmohan Singh today launched a scathing attack on the Modi government for its "disastrous policies" and "economic mismanagement", and said the country was facing crises that were avoidable. Singh attacked the government over a series of banking sector frauds, saying the money swindled almost quadrupled from Rs. 28,416 crore in September 2013 to Rs. 1.11 lakh crore in September 2017. Here's more.
"Perpetrators of these frauds escape with impunity. Economic mismanagement of Modi government and I say this with great care and responsibility is slowly eroding the trust of general public in banking sector," Singh said. "Our nation today is experiencing difficult times. Farmers are facing an acute crisis, our aspirational youth are not finding opportunities, and the economy is growing below its potential," he added.
Singh said the "unfortunate truth" was that each of these crises was "entirely avoidable". "It pains me to see how rather than standing up to all these challenges, the government's response has been to stifle dissent when deficiencies are pointed out," he added.
Noting that economic policy has a significant impact on lives of people, Singh said it was essential that those tasked with decision making pay careful attention to policies and programs and not act on mere whims and fancies. "India is a complex and diverse country and no one person can be the repository of all wisdom," he said in an apparent dig at Modi.
Singh said every time an answer was sought for any of the "disastrous policies" of the BJP government, "All we hear is that the intentions are virtuous." He said the intentions of the Modi government, which it claimed were good, had resulted in "massive" losses for the country. "Its lack of reasoning and analysis is costing India and our collective future," he added.
Singh said under UPA government the growth rate averaged 7%. "It was 8% at one point of time," he said. The NDA government, he said, clocked inferior growth-rate despite a favorable international climate and low oil prices. In fact, growth rate under NDA is lower in spite of the change in methodology to determine it "which paints a rosier picture than reality," Singh said.
According to Singh, two "major avoidable blunders" of Modi government had been demonetization and hasty implementation of GST. He said the losses the economy suffered due to these blunders had severely hurt micro, small, medium enterprises and resulted in the loss of tens-of-thousands of jobs.
Also, exports as a share of GDP plunged to a 14-year low at a time when the global economy was reviving and exports of other Asian nations like Vietnam were growing substantially, Singh said. Singh said petrol and diesel prices were at a "historic high" despite a fall in international crude oil prices because Modi government had chosen to levy "excessive" excise duty.
