The Opposition parties said the Survey attempts to whitewash the failures and gross economic mismanagement of the Narendra Modi government in the past five years.

“No roadmap in Survey to deal with the massive unemployment problem, except token phrases like ‘supporting dwarf, or smaller firms, to create jobs’,” said Congress’s media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.

“The growth slowed down rapidly in 2018-19. In the four quarters, it was 8, 7, 6.6 and 5.8 per cent. It will probably decline further in April-June 2019,” he claimed.

The Congress noted that fresh investments plunged to a 15-year low. “Private sector projects are being stalled at an all-time high rate of 26 per cent. Private investment in the manufacturing sector suffers the most,” Surjewala said.

Exports and manufacturing sectors have also fallen in the last five years, the Congress said. “The share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP has risen by only 0.5 per cent in the first five years of the Modi government,” he said.

“The growth in GST collections has come down from 6 per cent in May 2019 to about 4.5 per cent in June. This is an indicator of the fact that consumer spending is on the decline,” he said, and added that a weak monsoon shall add to the farm distress.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Survey is full of “bombastic” claims and grandiose declarations. “Any growth strategy based on private investment will be a non-starter; economic growth needs more purchasing power amongst people, not more investment with higher unemployment,” he said.

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