BJP expresses concern over ‘sinking’ economic growth rate

NEW DELHI, Feb 8:
Expressing concern over the “sinking” growth rate which stands at 5 per cent, BJP today said the government has failed to rejuvenate the economy despite being in power for nine years and cautioned that this will hamper creation of new jobs, poverty alleviation programmes and the generation of revenue.
“The UPA has been in power for an uninterrupted period of five years and even after these years of UPA governance we are faced with a gloomy situation in the economy.
From a high rate of growth, the economy may sink to below 5 per cent growth rate which is a cause for serious concern,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told.
He maintained that this will result in depletion of revenue and affect poverty alleviation programmes, which will disrupt India’s image of a “booming economy”. “The principal reason for this policy paralysis that has taken place since 2004 is that the Congress-led government has used national resources for votebank politics and not for rejuvenating the economy,” Jaitley claimed.
The government has launched schemes to gain votes but failed to properly implement them, he said.
“The CAG draft report has shown that the farm loan waiver was a good move but the funds meant for it was misused,” he said, adding that while the poor farmers did not get the funds, others benefited from it.
Jaitley said these issues related to the economy will be raised by the BJP in the Budget session of Parliament beginning on February 21.
He claimed that in 2004, UPA had inherited from the NDA government, a robust economy which had shown impressive growth since 1991.
“The future appears to be challenging as the government has hardly taken any measures.
FDI in retail was launched with much fanfare but not a single proposal for investment has come,” Jaitley claimed.
The BJP leader said that only nine per cent growth rate for over a decade can create sustainable progress in the country.
“The government should work towards evolving a broad consensus which will help create more jobs, improve poverty levels and generate additional revenue,” he said.
He further claimed that India has been able to achieve the present levels of growth only because some of the states have engaged in faster economic activity. (PTI)