Countering opposition criticism that mismanagement by the Narendra Modi government resulted in a mishap on the economic front, the Minister of State in Finance Ministry, Anurag Thakur said the country’s economy is resilient and will rebound based on consistent reforms that have ensured strong fundamentals.

He said Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram chose to ignore hard data and instead went ahead with “whataboutery.”

“While you doubt the resilience of Indian entrepreneurs, small businesses, traders and MSMEs; various international agencies project India to grow by 12.5 per cent in 2021-22 making us the only major economy to have a projected double digit growth,” Thakur said and added that despite the disruptions in the globalised world, India has remained resilient. He asked Chidambaram to shift gears from predicting “gloom and doom”.

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He said during 2014-19, the Centre disbursed ₹8-lakh crore on procurement of wheat and rice against ₹3.74-lakh crore during 2009-14.

“Modi government purchased 74 times more pulses at MSP than that procured during the UPA tenure in 2009-14,” he said.

‘Leakages plugged’

“Modi government, by opening 42 crore Jan Dhan accounts, has stopped leakages in the system ensuring every rupee reaches its intended beneficiary swiftly; even during the Covid-19 pandemic through Direct Bank Transfers. This has provided financial empowerment to millions,” he said.

Published on June 2, 2021