Union Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday rebutted criticism that the NDA government always has an eye on the “real view mirror”.

At a post-Budget talk here hosted by BusinessLine and Sastra Deemed University and powered by FICCI, Goyal spoke about the steps taken by the Centre to address the agrarian crisis, particularly through better minimum support prices.

“We surely have our eyes on the rear view mirror to ensure that every step we take has the desired outcomes and doesn’t fail due to the misdeeds of the previous regime,” he said.

At the same time, the Centre is ready to take mid-course corrections if needed, he added. “We are not ostriches. We are not saying ‘my way or highway’. We are ready for mid-course corrections,” he said.

Lashing out at the UPA regime for its farmer-related measures, Goyal said some of them indicated that the viewpoints of “vested interests” were more important than those of the nation.

 

He asserted that the economy had grown from strength-to-strength over the past three-and-a-half years, except for some GST-induced blips last year. “This fiscal, our GDP growth will be upwards of 6.7 per cent. Next fiscal it will cross 7.5 per cent. India now being the fastest growing large economy is no mean achievement. It’s exciting to be part of this journey,” said the Minister.

 

Goyal asked students to become job creators and not be job seekers.

Emulating the mark made by Indians in IT services, the youth should look for opportunities thrown up by artificial intelligence and 3D printing, he suggested.

FICCI Secretary General Sanjaya Baru, in his concluding remarks, said the Centre needs to promulgate the message that India is returning to growth levels of 7-8 per cent.

The event was moderated by BusinessLine Editor Raghavan Srinivasan.

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