As Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshaped his Union council of ministers last week, what remains under the spotlight is the massive challenges India faces. Aside from a continuing health challenge from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is the tottering Indian economy, battered and bruised by the two waves of the pandemic.
Business sentiment is wary, unemployment remains high, savings have dipped and consumer sentiment is at a low. Could this be India’s most challenging phase ever and where will the next few months take us?
Mitali Mukherjee spoke with West Bengal finance minister Dr. Amit Mitra who said his biggest concern was the country hitting a period of ‘stagflation’, where growth would continue to struggle while inflation would tick higher and higher, putting intense pressure on the individual citizen.
On the other hand, Mitra categorically said that he is not resigning from his post as there has been heightened speculation that he may quit soon. Though a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet, he is not a member of the West Bengal legislative assembly, and is believed to have expressed his unwillingness to contest bypolls in the state. Seven constituencies in the state will go for bypolls soon. To continue as a minister, Mitra should be elected to the assembly before November.
There is little possibility that the West Bengal legislature council, for which the state assembly passed a resolution earlier this month and requires a nod by the parliament will be constituted before November.