Surat: "I wish the Prime Minister found a more dignified way to impress crowd and seek people's votes than resort to statements that denigrate our country," former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said.
"Sustained revival of growth can only happen if private investment increases. I hope the PM would take a hard look at the reality on ground and identify critical constraints that are depressing the investor sentiment. He must outline a plan for future and not only talk of past," said Dr Singh, who was in the city to campaign for Congress candidates.
Addressing reporters here on Saturday, Dr Singh said the PM keeps on saying that we did nothing for 70 years. The life expectancy of an Indian was 31 years when the country attained Independence and now it is 71. How come Indians are living 40 more years? Literacy rate of the country was 18 per cent in 1947 and now it is 76 per cent. India, which didn't have enough food to eat then, now exports grains. India, which was known as a slow growing economy, has now become one of the fastest developing country. These achievements are not only because of Congress, but due to all others who had contributed to build the country.
Dr Singh questioned PM's claim of making India a developed economy. "At present India's per capita income is $5,000. Greece, which is considered a lowly ranked developed economy, has per capita income of $25,000. How could we achieve that in five years? For achieving this, we need to have a growth rate of 35 per cent per year."
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 7.8 per cent in 10 years of UPA regime, whereas Modi government brought it down to 7.3 per cent in first three years. Although GDP growth in the second quarter of the current financial year has gone up to 6.3 per cent, but it is too early to say if this reverses a declining trend, Dr Singh said.
The strong growth rate in manufacturing in the second quarter is due to taking into account only corporate results. They have not accounted for small and medium sector enterprises that were severely affected by Goods and Service Tax (GST) and demonetisation. The demonetisation and GST had adversely affected 30 per cent of economy. He said it was a big worry that farm sector growth has fallen from 2.3 per cent to 1.8 per cent when last year in the same quarter it was 4.1 per cent. Job loss due to farm and construction slowdown has been heavy. "If this government reaches growth rate of 8 per cent in 2018-19, still the overall growth rate of 7.2 per cent would be lower than UPA regime's 8 per cent growth rate," Dr Singh said.
Quoting a former chairman of National Statistical Commission Dr Singh said, "Government has front loaded its spending on project. The fiscal deficit has gone up to a high of 94.1 per cent of Rs 5,46,532 crore target set for the year. This means private spending on construction is dismal."
"Sustained revival of growth can only happen if private investment increases. I hope the PM would take a hard look at the reality on ground and identify critical constraints that are depressing the investor sentiment. He must outline a plan for future and not only talk of past," said Dr Singh, who was in the city to campaign for Congress candidates.
Addressing reporters here on Saturday, Dr Singh said the PM keeps on saying that we did nothing for 70 years. The life expectancy of an Indian was 31 years when the country attained Independence and now it is 71. How come Indians are living 40 more years? Literacy rate of the country was 18 per cent in 1947 and now it is 76 per cent. India, which didn't have enough food to eat then, now exports grains. India, which was known as a slow growing economy, has now become one of the fastest developing country. These achievements are not only because of Congress, but due to all others who had contributed to build the country.
Dr Singh questioned PM's claim of making India a developed economy. "At present India's per capita income is $5,000. Greece, which is considered a lowly ranked developed economy, has per capita income of $25,000. How could we achieve that in five years? For achieving this, we need to have a growth rate of 35 per cent per year."
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 7.8 per cent in 10 years of UPA regime, whereas Modi government brought it down to 7.3 per cent in first three years. Although GDP growth in the second quarter of the current financial year has gone up to 6.3 per cent, but it is too early to say if this reverses a declining trend, Dr Singh said.
The strong growth rate in manufacturing in the second quarter is due to taking into account only corporate results. They have not accounted for small and medium sector enterprises that were severely affected by Goods and Service Tax (GST) and demonetisation. The demonetisation and GST had adversely affected 30 per cent of economy. He said it was a big worry that farm sector growth has fallen from 2.3 per cent to 1.8 per cent when last year in the same quarter it was 4.1 per cent. Job loss due to farm and construction slowdown has been heavy. "If this government reaches growth rate of 8 per cent in 2018-19, still the overall growth rate of 7.2 per cent would be lower than UPA regime's 8 per cent growth rate," Dr Singh said.
Quoting a former chairman of National Statistical Commission Dr Singh said, "Government has front loaded its spending on project. The fiscal deficit has gone up to a high of 94.1 per cent of Rs 5,46,532 crore target set for the year. This means private spending on construction is dismal."
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