Mumbai: The budget presented by Narendra Modi government lack vision and programme to counter economic recession in the country. It neither have any action plan to generate employment nor it has any focus to stimulate investment in the industry sector, said former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in a special interview with FPJ.
“The Modi government which was not accepting that there is recession in economy, has now admitted this fact through its budget. But the budget lacks direction and programme to end this recession and boost confidence among the investors,” Chavan said.
“In last year’s budget, Modi government has claimed that the fiscal deficeit (FD) would be 3.3 per cent of GDP. I have strongly objected to this projection last year beacuse the economy was in bad shape then too. I have predicted FD to be higher than the projection and this has come true. The budget presented this year has admitted that FD is 3.8 per cent of GDP which means 0.5 percent more than projected,” he slammed the government.
“ The per capita income of Indians is $2010, in China it is $10,000 and $62,000 in US. The government should have some concrete plan to at least double this. The budget also lacks any concrete thing on job creation. It does not have any special plan and provision to boost growth in manufacturing and industrial sector,” he added.
“The economic survey presented on Friday says that the businessman now should focus more on importing parts and assembling in India instead of manufacturing them in India. This shows that Modi government has now wound up its Make in India programme and starting new programme called- Assemble in India,” he criticised.
While blaming the Modi government policies for revenue loss, he said that government lost Rs 1 lakh crore revenue in the current fiscal year. “As there is no business and recession, government got Rs.1 Lakh crore less revenue than projected. The shortfall in corporate tax collection is Rs.15,000 crore, Income Tax is Rs. 10,000 crore, customs is Rs.30,000 crore and excise is Rs.52,000 crore,” Chavan, also a former union minister of state said.
“Last year Modi government promised to raise Rs 1.5 lakh crore through disinvestment, but it could only raise Rs 18,000 crore. Nobody is willing to buy government enterprises. There is no taker for Air India. While Modi government failed to raise Rs 1 lakh crore, this year it has doubled its target and this is irony,” he expressed his anguish.
When asked reaction on projection of 10 per cent growth in Gross domestic product (GDP), he said this growth is nominal. “ When the 5 per cent due to inflation is deducted from this growth, the actual GDP growth reduces to only 5 per cent which is a serious thing for economy. To achieve real growth, the GDP growth should be at least 15 per cent,” he opined.
Nothing for Real estate sector
“There is nothing special for real estate sector in the budget. In 2014, Modi government had announced that 100 smart cities will be built in India. But not a single one was built. Now they have announced to build again new 5 smart cities but they are shifting this responsibility to state governments,” former chief minister said.
First step for privatisation of LIC
Strongly objecting the disinvestment in Life Insurance corporation of India (LIC), Chavan said that this is the first step towards privatisation of LIC. This will shake the confidence of common man that his investments are safe, he criticised.
