Days after the Congress party claimed that the Indian economy should be measured in terms of the Global Misery Index (GMI), Prof. Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, an applied economist who popularised the GMI concept, said on Sunday that Indians would not be so ‘miserable’ if the Narendra Modi government focussed on the economy instead of issues such as the new citizenship law.
On Thursday former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari had told reporters at a press conference that India now ranks high on the GMI as it scores poorly on the key economic parameters like unemployment rate, inflation rate, lending rate and the annualised growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP).
“@ManishTewari gets it. I rank India a measly 44 out of 95 countries on my #MiseryIndex. If #Modi & #BJP weren’t so hellbent on stirring social disarray with #CAA_NRC_NPR, & instead focused on the #Economy, maybe Indians wouldn't be so miserable!” Prof. Hanke said on Twitter, tagging The Hindu report of the Congress’s press conference .
Prof. Hanke was also critical of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“@nsitharaman predicts that #India will achieve 5% growth in 2020. I say it will struggle to achieve even that. Confidence is falling like a stone, & #Unemployment has hit a 45yr high. #Modinomics is a disaster,” the economist said in another tweet.
