Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said steps taken by UPA Government to improve the economy were underestimated but admitted there might have been implementation issues and delay in decision making due to a “vitiated” atmosphere in the country.
Mr. Kharge also claimed the previous government had taken many “hard decisions” be it diesel price hike, setting up rail fare regulatory authority or linking rail fares to fuel prices and none among businessman would believe allegations of crony capitalism or empty coffers against it.
Addressing the 97th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Mr Kharge was apparently referring to the “empty coffers” statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also projected as being capable of taking tough decisions.
“Current account deficit has been brought under control, foreign exchange reserves are comfortable and many hard decisions were already taken by the previous government -- be it diesel price hike, setting up rail fare regulatory authority or linking rail fares to fuel prices,” Mr. Kharge, a former Railway Minister, said.
“The steps taken by the government and the RBI in the last year to improve the economy are underestimated by many within the country. There may have been implementation issues and delay in decision making due to a vitiated atmosphere in the country,” he added.
He said he is sure that none among the businessmen would believe in allegations of crony capitalism or empty coffers against the UPA government.
Mr. Kharge said some policy changes by UPA helped in insulating tough economic decisions from political pressures. “Like our former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said, history will be kinder (to UPA),” he added.
“We are looking forward to economic resurgence throughout the world. India too has seen much improvement in economic sentiment over the last year. What is important is how we are going to utilise this improvement in sentiment to trigger resurgence,” Mr. Kharge said.
Highlighting that India’s infrastructure needs an investment of $1 trillion to make it world class, Kharge said: “this was the ambition of Manmohan Singh Government and also the goal of the current government“.
He said: “Transparency, open markets, increased competition will help the government raise funds without increasing the tax burdens. The Direct Tax Code (DTC) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) can help speed the process.”
Pointing out that India has many advantages o achieve high growth rate, he said: “The demographic dividend of having a huge youth population is a well known advantage”.
“The skill development programmes that have already been initiated will create a huge population of skilled and employable youth,” he stated.
On the situation in Karnataka, Mr. Kharge said: “much needs to be done to improve the current situation and improve the sentiments of investors in our state. We have to invest in developing our infrastructure and improving the power situation in the state”.
He said: “we have to aim for high double digit growth in Karnataka over the next few years. The anticipated slowdown in other emerging markets can be a source of worry for our state.” However, development of domestic economy can be new source of growth, he added.
Responding to a question on what he expects from the upcoming Rail Budget to be presented by his successor Sadananda Gowda, he said: “I wish this Budget will continue all those projects that are important for the country, and secondly all those ongoing, new projects announced for the state of Karnataka will be implemented”.
