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`Politicians responsible for nation's ills'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE JULY 24. S. Gurumurthy, Convenor, All-India Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, today blamed politicians and the bureaucracy for the economic ills of the nation.

Addressing BJP legislators at the Vidhana Soudha, he said politicians were obsessed with contesting polls, and those who won elections neglected their tasks. They trusted English-speaking urban bureaucrats who blindly borrowed ideas from the West. Neither politicians nor the bureaucracy was responding to the common people's problems, he added.

The BJP-led Government at the Centre had not done anything to protect domestic industries, Mr. Gurumurthy said. The Union Government and State governments invited foreign direct investment and availed of loans from external agencies without understanding the consequences on the economy. Politicians must encourage mobilisation of resources internally, he said.

Undue media publicity had been given to the corporate sector which contributed only 13 per cent to country's gross domestic product (GDP). The companies listed on the stock exchange contributed less than two per cent to the GDP, Mr. Gurumurthy said.

He said the Indian economy was driven by domestic demand and the manufacturing capacity of the unorganised sector, and that 39 per cent of the non-corporate sector had been providing 90 per cent of employment. Comparing Indian and Western economies, Mr. Gurumurthy said the U.S., Japanese, and German economies were driven by exports. The U.S. economy heavily depended on borrowings in the capital market. Referring to foreign direct investment, he said Indians invested $50 billion in the U.S while the U.S. investment in India was only $15 billion.

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