Much has been said about current economics and finance condition of India right now. The government has been in the constant radar of people ever since the prices of common use products are increasing.
Now BJP veteran and former finance minister, Yashwant Sinha has come ahead and has criticized the policies of current finance minister Arun Jaitley. In a column for Indian Express titled ‘I Need To Speak Up Now’ Yashwant said, The economy is on a downward spiral and a hard landing is inevitable.
He starts with expressing that it’s his duty to talk about it and adds how he feels that there are many in the party who share a common thought.
“I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister has made of the economy. I am also convinced that what I am going to say reflects the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear.”
He continues to write in an unapologetic way-
“So, what is the picture of the Indian economy today? Private investment has shrunk as never before in two decades, industrial production has all but collapsed, agriculture is in distress, construction industry, a big employer of the work force, is in the doldrums, the rest of the service sector is also in the slow lane, exports have dwindled, sector after sector of the economy is in distress, demonetisation has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster, a badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with businesses and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market. For quarter after quarter, the growth rate of the economy has been declining until it reached the low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the lowest in three years.”
Taking a shot on Demonetisation, he said-
“The spokespersons of the government say that demonetisation is not responsible for this deceleration. They are right. The deceleration had started much earlier. Demonetisation only added fuel to fire.”
He also talks about the methodology for calculation of the GDP-
“And please note that the methodology for calculation of the GDP was changed by the present government in 2015 as a result of which the growth rate recorded earlier increased statistically by over 200 basis points on an annual basis. So, according to the old method of calculation, the growth rate of 5.7 per cent is actually 3.7 per cent or less.”
Making a reference to Amit Shah, he quoted SBI as saying that the slowdown is not “technical” but is here to stay. He writes-
“It has openly contradicted what the BJP president said just a few days ago that the slowdown in the last quarter was on account of ‘technical’ reasons and will be corrected soon.”
Making a strong point on the poor state of economy, he said-
“Economies are destroyed more easily than they are built. It took almost four years of painstaking and hard work in the late nineties and early 2000 to revive a sagging economy we had inherited in 1998. Nobody has a magic wand to revive the economy overnight. Steps taken now will take their own time to produce results. So, a revival by the time of the next Lok Sabha election appears highly unlikely. A hard landing appears inevitable. Bluff and bluster is fine for the hustings, it evaporates in the face of reality.”
We just hope the situation improves soon.
