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Modi govt's flawed schemes devastated Indian economy: TMC

Modi govts flawed schemes devastated Indian economy: TMC
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Kolkata: Slamming the Narendra Modi-led government for its flawed schemes, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Friday said the Centre government had devastated the country's economy and banking system.

The MP alleged that the 'hasty and unthoughtful' demonetisation—which came into effect from November 8, 2016—ruined the country's economy.

"The demonetisation was the biggest blow to the Indian economy. Experts had claimed that the way demonetisation was carried out, the country's economy would be reduced by 2 per cent. The Prime Minister had claimed that he was ready to accept any punishment given by the people at any square of the country if the benefits of demonetisation were not seen in 6 months. But, he never stood at any square, leaving apart the punishment," he said.

The MP alleged that due to demonetisation around 15 lakh people lost their jobs and the country's GDP was reduced to 4.5 per cent. "Around 100 persons died while waiting in long queues to deposit the cancelled currency notes in banks. It was Mamata Banerjee, who had said within 15 minutes after the ban was imposed, that the move would affect the country's economy badly. The nation found that 99 per cent of the notes had returned to the formal banking system.

Thus, the move totally failed to capture the black money as promised by the Prime Minister," he said.

The MP claimed that GDP had been suffering since demonetisation. "According to a World Bank report published on January 4, 2021, India's GDP deficit in the current financial year will stand at 9.7 per cent. Such a horrible condition has never been witnessed," he said.

According to the MP, the banking sector is in doldrums during BJP's regime. "In the past two decades, the number of PSU banks reduced from 21 to 12. During the same period, the total assets of the government banks reduced from 78 per cent to 61 per cent. Now, the government is saying that they will further reduce the number of government banks to 4. In the USA, there are around 6,000 banks, of which many are government-run. In China, there are 4,000 banks," he stated.

The MP claimed that in the last two decades the private banks had done well as their assets increased from 10.5 per cent to 32 per cent. "In September, 2019, Finance Minister had stated that the public banks had bad loans worth 7.27 lakh. The bad loans have now increased to 8.5 lakh crore. According to the performance audit report 28 of the CAG 2017, the non-performing assets (NPAs) of the public banks are increasing and the Centre government is trying to tackle the situation by resorting to recapitalisation. It means that on one hand the public money is being constantly pushed into the banks for sustaining them. On the other hand, the same is passing into the hands of the defaulters," he said. The MP alleged that the banks were treading on the same path as BSNL and Air India.

Roy alleged that BJP had established 'Jumla Raj' across the country. In a bid to cover up the fault of BJP, party leaders were criticising Duare Sarkar.

Citing the incidents of crime against women in BJP-ruled states, the MP said the much-hyped 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' initiative had turned into 'Beti Pitao, Beti Mitao' scheme.

He further alleged that out of Rs 280 crore sanctioned for the initiative, only Rs 70 crore was released to the states, while Rs 155 crore was spent on publicity. The total fund available for the project in 2020- 21 was Rs 92 crore.

On the contrary, the Kanyashree project launched by the Bengal government earned global recognition. It helped girls to carry on with their education up to the post graduation level.

The Mudra scheme, launched in 2015, is another major flop, he maintained. "Only 20 per cent Mudra loans led to fresh employment. NPA held by the banks under Mudra category doubled from 2018 to 2019. The public sector banks were forced to grant collateral-free Mudra loans," he said.

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