Growth: Nirmala junks Chidambaram’s claims of jobless growth as “whimsical calculations”
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Tearing into the Opposition’s claims of India witnessing a ‘jobless growth,’ Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday dubbed these claims as a result of “whimsical calculations” and said careful implementation of various welfare schemes by the Modi government has ensured that benefits reach the people.
Slamming Congress for its claims about the failure of government schemes, she enumerated how their meticulous implementation has benefited the needy and helped catapult India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Replying to a discussion on the state of the economy in the Rajya Sabha, she called out former finance minister P. Chidambaram for “whimsical calculations” to claim that growth has been jobless, and said, under the Modi government, the working-population ratio (WPR) has increased. Schemes such as the Mudra Yojana have created self-employment and 13.5 crores have been lifted out of “multidimensional poverty.”
She also dismissed the so-called North-South divide, adding profits and the resulting taxes by big companies in states such as Tamil Nadu were because of their sales all over the country and not just in the state they are registered in. And so, it was wrong to say they contribute more to taxes but get a lesser share than states in the North, which do not have as many big corporations, but a larger customer base.
On the handling of the economy, Sitharaman cited media reports that eulogized the Modi government for successfully steering the Indian economy when other economies faced turbulence.
Calling the reports a validation, she also cited another report to say that the rupee has been relatively stable, with just 1 percent depreciation against the dollar this year.
On inflation management, she said the average rate of price rise from 2014-15 to 2023-24 was 5.5 percent, while inflation hit a high of 7.79 percent in April 2022. In comparison, average inflation from 2004 to 2014 was 8.1 percent, and from 2009 to 2014, it was 10.4 percent.
The per capita income or the amount of income earned per person in India has increased from Rs 78,348 in 2013-14 to Rs 115,746 now. In dollar terms, per capita income has increased from USD 1,438 to USD 2,389, she said.
Replying to the discussion, in which about 60 MPs participated, Sitharaman highlighted the new schemes or those continued from the UPA regime by the Modi-led government.
On the Opposition’s criticism that the Modi government just claims credit for schemes started by the previous government, Sitharaman said the UPA had come up with various ‘Naam Ke Vaaste’ schemes which were launched but not executed properly and hence didn’t reach the common man.
On the other hand, the Narendra Modi-led government not only implemented new schemes but executed them in a way that made a huge difference to the life of the common man.
The basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account scheme was just ‘Naam-ke-Vaste’ and so were the pension and Jan Aushadhi schemes started during the UPA regime. “…Launch it forget it,” she remarked.
On allegations that the Centre is selective between BJP and non-BJP-ruled state governments, Sitharaman said PM Modi never discriminates against any state.
“He was a chief minister himself who became the PM … he has never discriminated against any one state. He repeatedly says until and unless all states grow equally, India cannot grow. So, someone who believes in that is never going to discriminate against any state.
She said it was incorrect for Chidambaram to say that the WPR has not improved.
“This is a whimsical calculation, resulting in a misinterpretation on his part,” she said, adding the WPR, under the UPA regime, fell from 42 percent in 2004-05 to 38.6 percent in 2011-12.
Also, the youth unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 years declined from 17.8 percent in 2017-18 to 10 percent in 2022-23, while youth LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate) increased from 38.2 percent to 44.5 percent.
