Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled a White Paper on the Indian economy in the Lok Sabha and compared it with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s records.

Tabling the White Paper, Sitharam said when BJP came to power in 2014, the economy was in a fragile state, public finance was in bad shape, economic mismanagement and it was a crisis situation.

In the White Paper, the Modi government mentioned that the UPA Government inherited a healthy economy ready for more reforms but made it non-performing in its ten years.

The Modi-led BJP government has said that the UPA government in its quest to maintain high economic growth by any means after the global financial crisis of 2008, had Worsen it and severely undermined the macroeconomic foundations.

The White Paper presented by Sitharaman further underlined the inflation in the country between 2009 and 2014. There were high fiscal deficits for six years between the Financial Year 2009 and 2014 that heaped misery on ordinary and poorer households.

Over the five-year period from 2010 to 2014, the average annual inflation rate was in double digits, adding that, Sitharaman further mentioned that the average annual inflation in the economy was 8.2 percent between 2004 and 2014.

According to the White Paper, the banking crisis was one of the most important and infamous legacies of the UPA government. The White Paper also mentioned that the GNPA ratio in Public Sector banks decreased from 16.0% to 7.8% during the tenure of the Vajpayee-led NDA government.

The ratio, including restructured loans, had reached 12.3% in September 2013, mainly due to political interference by the UPA government in the commercial lending decisions of public sector banks. Worse, even that high percentage of bad debts was an underestimate, the Modi government claimed.

The White Paper also highlighted that when the BJP government took charge in 2015, the pace of national highway construction languished at 12 km/day. The pace of construction has risen more than 2.3X to 28 km/day now. While the UPA government laid nearly 16,000 km length of national highways in their 10 years of governance, the BJP government has already done at least three times better than this in its nearly 10-year rule, said the government in a White Paper.

The government of India has scraped the Free Movement Regime (FMR) with Myanmar to ensure the internal security.

The Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the ministry has decided to scrap the FMR between India and Myanmar to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar.

Shah further said although the Ministry of External Affairs currently in the process of scrapping it, the MHA has recommended the immediate suspension of the FMR.

He callled this decision, a Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to secure India’s borders.  

On January 20 last month, Shah announced that India will soon fence the border with Myanmar to restrict the free movement into the territory of India.

The decision to barricade the India-Myanmar border by the MHA came after the movement of Myanmar soldiers, in large numbers, into Indian territory was reported.

Addressing a passing out parade of Assam Police Commandos, Shah said India’s border with Myanmar to be protected like the border with Bangladesh.

According to reports, around 600 Myanmar Army soldiers have crossed the border and moved into India in recent times. The report further suggests that they took refuge in Mizoram’s Lawngatlai district after the capture of their camps by the Arakan Army militants, a group that operates in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine.   

After installing a fence along the border, the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between the two countries ended. People living close to border regions will now require a visa to enter the other country.  

FMR, an agreement, which allows people residing close to the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa.

A 1,643 km long border between India and Myanmar passes through Indian states such as Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. The mentioned stated comes under the FMR, which came into effect in 2018 as a part of India’s Act East policy.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday joined the protest led by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Centre at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

The Kerala CM Vijayan was leading the Left Democratic Front (LDF) against the alleged discrimination in State funds distribution by the Centre’s Narendra Modi government.

Speaking at the protest site, Kerala CM Vijayan said February 8 is going to be a red letter day in the history of India. Vijayan charged the Centre with ignoring the federal structure of the country by not treating every state equally.

He added that a reunited fight that would herald the dawn of ensuring equal treatment of the states has begun today. This fight will also strive to maintain balance in the Centre-State relation, he further added.

The Kerala CM Vijayan also talked about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation and slammed the Centre. He reminded when several state governments decided to approach the Supreme Court together after their funds were delayed by the Centre.

Joining the protest at Jantar Mantar, the AAP convener Kejriwal said people usually come here to protest against the exploitation by different governments but today, he added, the Kerala CM had to come here to Delhi leaving all his work and hold a protest against the Centre’s injustice. The country had to witness such a day too, Kejriwal charged.

Kejriwal said the Centre has waged a war against Opposition governments that represent 70 crore people in the country. He further said that the Modi-led Centre has been harassing the Opposition by obstructing work through governors, stopping funds, and using central agencies, he added.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on the Kerala CM’s protest, said today’s protest is important because the Kerala CM with proof has presented how there has been discrimination in every sector of Kerala.  She further alleged that an elected government, MLAs and cabinet have been forced to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar due to the constitutional attack by the Modi government.