The Ministry of Statistics on Tuesday released the GDP data and delivered the good news that in the first quarter of the current financial year 2021-22, the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 20.1 percent. The Government presented this as a momentous achievement. This growth rate has been measured in comparison to the first quarter of 2020-21 last year. Which was -24.4 percent. Those who comprehend economics know that this 20.1 percent is still in bad shape, if we compare it with the GDP of 2019-20. Even in those days, the conditions were not favorable. The GDP was Rs 35, 66,788 crore in the first quarter of 2019-20, which has now come down to Rs 32, 38,828 crore in the quarter of 2021-22. When the base of GDP has rolled down, how could this growth rate be gratifying? This improvement of GDP is a result of the increased burden of taxes and cess on the citizens of the country. The employment sector forms a grim silhouette. Basic businesses are collapsing. The Government has sold many public enterprises, while many are up the queue. They wish to make the country’s economy of USD 5 trillion but do not want to adopt constructive policies for its execution. As an upshot, the country is going backwards instead of pacing forward. The Government is trying to hide reality under a pile of lies.
For the current financial year, the Reserve Bank of India has reduced the country’s growth forecast to 9.5 percent from 10.5 percent. At the same time, the World Bank has expressed the possibility of India’s economy to grow at the rate of 8.3 percent in 2021. The global economy is projected to grow by 5.6 percent in 2021. You might recollect, due to the lockdown last year, the country’s GDP declined to Rs 26, 95,421 crore in the April-June quarter. For the past few months, economists were also proposing the same estimate that the GDP in this quarter would be between 18 and 22 percent. The stock market was also kicking heels for this figure. It had been going up in the same hope for the past few days. As a result, the Sensex crossed 57,550 for the first time. Along with this growth, it is also true that even after the growth of the market, the growth of GDP is not showing any signs of the economy coming back on track. It should be seen in the direction of compensation. The 20% jump reflects that the economy is still below the preceding level. The country’s economy did not reach where it was two years ago.
There has been a decline of about 17 percent in production between April and June as compared to January to March, the first months of the year. This adds to the concern that the economy has not been able to register growth compared to the faster it shrank last year. According to a report, after the lockdown last year, the wealth of 100 billionaires of the country has increased by 12, 97,822 crores, while the Coronavirus pandemic has pushed 23 crore Indians into poverty during the year 2020. During the second wave of the virus and its mutant forms, this number has increased further. Young people and women have been hit the hardest. According to the report, those whose daily income is less than Rs 375 are considered to be poor. Indians make 60 percent of the people who have become poor worldwide in the pandemic. In terms of GDP, India has reached number 142 out of 194 countries. It has been told in the report of the World Economic Forum that in our country, it takes seven generations for a poor family to reach the middle class. Economists believe that the decisions of our Government are more for their own political gain. Schemes like Ujjwala, PM Awas, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi started for the weaker sections have only been for electoral benefit. The Government saw their wins befitting rather than spending on the basic needs of education, health and employment of the poor.
We have to discern that the unemployment rate which was 11.9 percent in May has gone up to 14.73 percent in the month of June, which is the highest in the history of independent India. The situation is as bad in the villages as it is in the cities. According to the report of the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy, the income of more than 97 percent of the households has decreased. There has been a situation of starvation in the country, to deal with which the government has announced to give the benefit of free food grains scheme to 80 crore people. India has slipped to 94th position out of 107 countries included in the Global Hunger Index, which is worse than all its neighbors. Despite this, the United Nations Environment Program report states that in our country more than 50 kg of cooked food per person is wasted annually. The Government has admitted in Parliament that more than one lakh quintals of food grains have rotted in its godowns in the country. The country’s inflation rate has historically reached a high. The situation has become uncontrollable due to the increase in the price of petroleum products. The political crisis in Afghanistan has dealt a big blow to India. The effect of which is also gradually visible in the market. LPG prices have also been rising strikingly. No plan has been introduced at the Government level to reduce its impact.
In the current situation, we are reminiscent of our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Our politicians should learn from their policies in such times. After the Second World War, the reconstruction of an economically ruined and divided India was not easy, but the results of the Five Year Plans made by Nehru with his vision and understanding continued to strengthen the country till years later. Nehru has played an important role in making India free from poverty. He focused on education, social reform, the economic sector, national security, and industrialization. They made policies and plans not for electoral gains but with the aim of socio-economic cohesion. As a result, the country moved towards holistic development at a rapid pace. His decisions were criticized many times and also became a topic of mockery. But the truth remains that his decisions strengthened the country on the economic front. Be it their foreign policy or the new temple policy. Be it the Five Year Plans or the policy to strengthen democratic institutions, all not only empowered the country but also earned respect in the world. He did not resort to publicity for this, but his work glorified the summits. Now, once again his policies are needed by the country so that the broken and weakened India can be made strong and prosperous again by threading it in the garland of love and cooperation.
