Rejecting NDA's claim of over eight per cent growth under its rule, former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh on Friday said the growth rate registered a fall during the tenure of the BJP-led government and it was not over five per cent.
"In the last five years the country witnessed a decline in the rate of growth. It is not more than five per cent," he told reporters here.
During the NDA rule starvation deaths increased and farmers fell in debt trap. The investment rate stagnated except in road infrastructure programmes and Information Technology sector, Singha alleged.
"We now have a situation where the macro-economy is in doldrums and investment rates do not match upto eight per cent," he said.
Singh said even the foundation for BJP's much-hyped road programme was laid by the Congress. Same is the case in the IT sector where the competition was brought by the Congress.
It was the Congress which had restored a "bankrupt economy" back on the rails, he said. T "Congress has a comprehensive programme under which, if voted back to power at the Centre, we would look at the fiscal situation of each state and set up Reforms Commission which will give thrust to pace of development," Singh said.
He said that the challenge before the country was to create jobs at a pace that would provide employment to all in the next 10 years. "Our economy should grow at a rate of eight to ten per cent to achieve the target of getting employment for all."
{{/usCountry}}He said that the challenge before the country was to create jobs at a pace that would provide employment to all in the next 10 years. "Our economy should grow at a rate of eight to ten per cent to achieve the target of getting employment for all."
{{/usCountry}}