What is White Paper? Why Modi government may bring it in Parliament?

While presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament, finance minister had announced that the Government will lay a White Paper on the table of the House.

The ongoing Budget Session of the Parliament has been extended by one day till February 10. There are reports that the extension has been done to allow for the presentation of a White Paper to contrast the condition of the Indian economy before and after 2014. The Modi government had announced in the Union Interim Budget presented on February 1 that it would come out with a 'White Paper' to compare the economic performance of 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government with that of 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman(ANI)

While announcing the extension in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla said, "Honorable Members, Honorable Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has proposed that the 15th session of the 17th Lok Sabha be extended till Saturday, 10 February 2024 to dispose of the necessary government business."

What is White Paper and Why the Modi government may bring it in Parliament?

A White Paper is a government document which is presented to highlight new policies and achievements to gain support and to gauge public reaction. It is often bound in white cover.

While presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had claimed that India's economy was in "crisis" in 2014 when the Modi government assumed the reins. She blamed "mismanagement" of the previous government for such a situation.

She announced that the Government will lay a White Paper on the table of the House "to look at where we were then till 2014 (during Congress-led government) and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years".

The White Paper will likely illustrate, assess and analyse the Indian government's overall economic policy over the years while covering various subsets like fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy and exchange rate policy.