Government has failed to stimulate demand: P Chidambaram
He claimed that the finances for 2021-22 has failed as even a small amount of money switch has not been given to the poor and the rations usually are not being continued with.
“Every economist in the world has said we have to stimulate demand and the best way to stimulate demand is to put money in the hands of people. This government has failed on that account. I repeat the charge. You are still not learning the lessons of the last 36 months. I am afraid that as a result of your not learning the lessons, another 12 months will be lost and the poor will suffer and suffer greatly,” the previous finance minister mentioned within the Upper House of Parliament.
He mentioned the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2004-05, in fixed costs, was about Rs 32.42 lakh crore and when the Congress-led UPA demitted workplace in 2013-14, it was slightly greater than thrice at Rs 105 lakh crore.
“Since then what has happened? In 2017-18, it was Rs 131 lakh crore. In 2018-19, it crept up to Rs 139 lakh crore. In 2019-20, it was a slower crawl to Rs 145 lakh crore and in 2020-21, the year that is about to end, the first half is about Rs 60 lakh crore and the year may end at about Rs 130 lakh crore, which means we are back to where we were in 2017-18,” Chidambaram mentioned.
He alleged that the nation has witnessed three years of “incompetent economic mismanagement”.
“The honourable finance minister took exception to my using the word incompetent. I cannot use a harsher word in Parliament. I am using the mildest word available to me. Three years of incompetent economic mismanagement means that at the end of 2020-21, we will be exactly where we were in 2017-18,” the Congress chief mentioned.
