Blame game must be stopped by both national parties (Congress and BJP). Instead efforts should be taken to strengthen our Banking sector as well as mode of its lending by proper risk assessment. Credit rating agency’s quality is to be standardized and enhanced. RBIs “regulating” aspect must be carefully monitored. Our economic advisers have to pin point the areas where economic activity needs more attention.
In a recent outburst Dr. Manmohan Singh attacked NDA government for its failure to address major problems relating to the Indian Economy. He addressed a meeting recently and reiterated that ‘The main problem in our economy is the shortage of demand’. The event, titled “Words of Wisdom on Indian Economy” came rather late from the ex-prime minister of India creating a controversy. He went on to add that the government needs to at least fix economic crisis, if it cannot diagnose the problem. However, the problem commenced during the 10 year rule of the UPA government.
The slackness in our economy started over a decade back before BJP government took over. A silent statement during the time of scams now Manmohan speaks his mind. It was rather too late but came as a rejoinder to the BJP led government. It appears as though the pot is calling the kettle back. Despite Congress rule for so many years, why is it that the railways’ infrastructure increased only by a mere 30-35%, while the demand increased by 16 times. In this situation, it is natural that the railways should be overloaded.
The UPA regime under Dr. Singh had bequeathed a doddering economy to the nation and that all sorts of scams be it the telecom fraud of ₹1.76 lakh crore or the ‘Coalgate’ scam of ₹1.86 lakh crore occurred during the Congress-led government. Apart from that Suresh Kalmadi as an Indian politician and senior sports administrator involved in corrupt practices in relation to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. So India was facing trouble on economic front during his time but the buck was passed on to the present government. There were scams exploding all around Dr. Singh, who only had one answer: that these are the compulsions of coalition politics. DMK the main coalition partner exploited their position as the single largest party made money when the sun shines.
While we concede that the demand had been slow in the previous two quarters and the demand was generally subdued. The government exudes confidence that it would be successful in reversing the slowdown. The Finance Minister has taken a number of proactive steps gauging the economy from time to time and so both investment and demand will pick up soon. Before 2014 Anna Hazare had vigorously protested in Jantar Mantar and he also demanded the formation of Lokpal in 2014 and now it stands forgotten. Kiran Bedi has now become Governor of Pondichery and Baba Ramdev has become a leading businessman and Arvind Kejirwal is silenced.
Ex-PM felt that the government is obsessed with trying to somehow fix blame on its opponents. In the process, it is unable to find solutions that will ensure revival of the economy, particularly strengthening of our banking system. But most of the banking scams perpetrated from the UPA regime and that is pinching the present government as well. Had he felt the need of speaking then we would have been better of now and the national party would not have suffered such a humiliation. Corruption is the grass root for all the problems and the political parties need to admit this. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s regime was marked by rampant corruption and that every rule was disregarded and the basic tenets of transparency were discarded to the advantage of individuals and no one was ready to open the mouth then and there lies the crux of all the problems. It is time to stop blame game and there should be only constructive criticism and it should not be just for the sake of pointing fingers.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
