Amrit Kaal, Kartavya Kaal: Centre's white paper on economy in 10 points
The NDA government has successfully overcome the challenges left by the UPA government but there are mountains to scale, the white paper said.
The government on Thursday came up with a white paper on the Indian economy in which it presented how the economy improved from 2014 to 2024 in comparison with the time period between 2004 and 2014 when, the white paper claimed, the UPA hurt the economy, robbed the economy. Despite inheriting a healthy economy, the UPA turned it into a non-performing one, the white papers said.
Here's the white paper on economy explained in 10 points
1. The white paper said the NDA government in 2014 found the economy in bad shape and crisis. The challenge to fix the economy was 'hydra-headed'. At that time, the Indian economy was among the fragile five. Lack of leadership has been blamed for the state of Indian economy.
2. "Then, we had 2G scam; now, we have extensive coverage of the population under 4G with the lowest rates and the world's fastest rollout of 5G in 2023," it said in a Then versus Now comparison.
3. "Then, we had 'policy-paralysis'; infrastructure was not a priority; now, the wheels of the virtuous cycle of 'investment, growth, employment and entrepreneurship, and savings' leading to more investments and productivity has been set into fast motion," it said.
4. The NDA government understood the need to make tough decisions for the greater economic good.
5. In the UPA rule, India had double-digit inflation, now the inflation has been brought down to little over 5%, it said.
6. "Then, we had the economy facing a 'twin balance sheet problem'; now, we have turned the economy to having a 'twin balance sheet advantage' for companies as well as banking sector with ample capacity to ramp up investments and credit and generate employment," it said.
7. The white paper said the introduction of the GST regime was a much-needed structural reform. "Prior to the introduction of the Goods & Service Tax (GST), the mélange of state levies, more than 440 tax rates, excise duties and the compliance requirements of multiple agencies administering these rates meant that India’s internal trade was neither free nor united. The implementation of the reform entailed unifying 29 states and 7 Union Territories, which, due to their different tax structures, were economic territories on their own," it said.
8. The budgeted capital expenditure has increased over five-folds from FY14 to FY24 (RE), without any heating-up of the economy, it said.
9. Referring to the welfare steps, the white paper said, “Empowerment through welfare has been the leitmotif for our government. We adopted the philosophy “sabka sath, sabka vikas” prioritising universal access to basic amenities, and a participatory, mission-mode approach in actualising this philosophy.”
10. The white paper said the NDA government successfully overcame the challenges left by the previous government but is not resting on its laurels. "There are miles to go and mountains to scale before we sleep. The Amrit Kaal has just begun and our destination is "India a developed nation by 2047". It is our Kartavya Kaal," it said.
