Age Debate: A roller-coaster ride

We’ve ensured achche din for #NewIndia
Shivam Chhabra
A new chapter began in India on May 26, 2014 when the BJP-led NDA government was sworn in to lead the country and Narendra Modi took the oath as Prime Minister. The entire country was hopeful that this would certainly bring in achche din, and I can proudly say that the BJP has certainly ensured achche din for #NewIndia. Ten years of the previous UPA government was the most corrupt since Independence. Indians were deeply anguished to see the country go down the pit, thanks to the poor governance of the Congress-led UPA. Now Mr Modi has created dynamic institutional changes, resulting in scam-free governance. The Indian economy has emerged as an action-oriented economy. Justifying the slogan “Sabka sath, sabka vikas”, the Modi government has ensured India as the fastest growing major economy in the world.

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation emerged as effective steps to curb black money. Under the UPA, India was never considered a stable economy. But from the very first year of the NDA government, India became the world’s fastest growing economy with the highest GDP growth rates. The current account deficit (CAD) under the UPA saw an unprecedented 6.7 per cent deficit in 2012-13. The NDA has consistently maintained a CAD of less than 2 per cent on an annual basis. This was possible only because of the efficient and relentless work done by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

Fiscal deficits remained substantially high under the UPA. The government was spending more and earning less. We witnessed fiscal deficits of 4.4 per cent in the UPA’s last year. On the contrary, the NDA government, year after year, has brought it down to 3.5 per cent. The growing foreign direct investment (FDI) is also a result of the growing dominance of the Indian economy in the global platform.

The NDA has tried to contain inflation and on most occasions has remained within the target of 3-4 per cent. India’s GDP growth has seen a magnificent growth of 31 per cent as compared to that of the world (4 per cent) over the past years. The Prime Minister’s ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana helped in opening 31.52 crore Jan Dhan accounts over the past four years to serve the banking needs of the poor.

Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan ensured that over 3.8 crore below poverty line families were given free LPG connections. With the successful implementation of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Yojana (DDUGJV) by power minister Piyush Goyal, no village in India is in darkness. Also the Saubhagya scheme launched by the government ensured that every household is electrified.

Just to lift the poor state of the country under Congress rule, from Independence in 1947 till 2014 there were around six crore toilets in the country. But thanks to Mr Modi’s flagship Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, 7.5 crore toilets have been made. The NDA government ensured that projects worth lakhs of crores were implemented “without a scam”. The efficient functioning of transport minister Nitin Gadkari resulted in the construction of 53,000 km roads worth '5.35 lakh crores under the Bharatmala initiative. The largest tunnel and the largest bridge in the country were built by the Modi government.

The world has developed immense trust in India. The Indian economy has emerged as a superpower. The world is looking at India with high hopes and enthusiasm. Let us all keep the ball rolling with “Saaf niyat, sahi vikas”, and ensure #PhirEkBarModiSarkar.
The writer is national media in-charge and BJP spokesperson (youth wing)

Economy was better under the UPA’s rule
Ashish Dua
It has now been four years of the Narendra Modi sarkar. During the election campaign of 2014 Mr Modi said that people of the country should give him 60 months. Now 48 months are over but where and what are the deliverables? In spite of manipulations and despite favourable changes in GDP calculation, which would suit the present government, even according to the new favourable changes in GDP, India’s GDP is the lowest in four years in comparison to the UPA tenure. The trade deficit in three years is the highest. What about exports? What about manufacturing? In 2013 and 2014, the exports were '19.5 lakh crores and today — 2017-18 — it is '10.73 lakh crores, and in a short time more than '9 lakh crores. What about the rupee?

Before I move on to pertinent questions about the state of the economy under the Narendra Modi government I want to focus on petroleum products first. After May 26, 2014, international crude oil prices came down by more than 30 per cent. The Modi government has earned a windfall of '9,95,850 crores by levying various Central taxes on petrol/diesel (till December 2017). It is over '10 lakh crore now! Where has the money gone? International crude oil prices have come down to 73 per cent since the Modi government came to power, but paradoxically, petrol and diesel have risen up to 108 per cent and 123 per cent respectively (with respect to the rates on May 26, 2014), which reflect the complete anti-people attitude of the BJP government. For the past one year we have been demanding that petroleum products should be brought under the ambit of GST, but the government has an anti-people outlook.

Two crore jobs a year were promised, but where are they? Every single day, there are 30,000 youth who enter the job market looking for a job and just 450 of them get jobs. The demonetisation and reckless GST implementation has greatly damaged the backbone of the mass scale employment generating unorganised sector as well as small and micro industries along with self-employed labour. It has resulted in large-scale loss of employment in the informal sector.

Exports and other important economic indices are also dwindling. Under the Modi government, India’s exports have actually fallen from $314 billion in 2013-14 to $275 billion in 2016-17, a total decline of nearly 13 per cent. Contrast this with the growth in India’s exports from $64 billion in 2003-04 to $314 billion in 2013-14, a growth of nearly 400 per cent in total or 20 per cent every year under the UPA government. This was despite the fact that global economic growth has been robust during the Modi government’s tenure while there was a severe global financial crisis in 2008 during the UPA tenure. With exports languishing so badly, there is little surprise that India is facing a severe job crisis.

The UPA government also waived nearly '72,000 crores of farmers’ loans. The minimum support prices for paddy, wheat, arhar, sugarcane, etc, increased 2.5-3 times during the UPA’s 10-year tenure. This reflected in a healthy 40 per cent increase in real income of farmers (after adjusting for inflation). In contrast, real income of farmers under the Modi government has stagnated and seen no growth. According to a paper by the government’s own Niti Aayog, this is the first time in recent history that India’s farmers have not seen their real incomes rise. Wrong tariff policies — for both imports and exports — have made trade in agricultural commodities uncertain and too dependent on the government’s beneficence.

The economy was much better under the previous UPA government. Under the present government, the Indian economy has decoupled itself from the world economy which is a major cause of worry.
The writer is an AICC member