Sitaram Yechury Accuses Modi Government Of Inflating Growth Rate By Dubious Data

The NDA government has been under high scrutiny ever since it came to power with Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising “Ache din” (good days) to the citizens of India.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury sparked a new controversy on Sunday by accusing the government of “inflating” growth rate by using “dubious” data, The Hindu reported. He said that manipulating data may help in making headlines but would not help with economic fundamentals.

“We have once again heard the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister speak about how well the economy is doing and it’s shining prospects. But nothing will move till public investment is increased in the economy. Changing data-series may help manage global headlines for a while, but won’t help fundamentals,” The Hindu quoted Yechury. “On the basis of highly dubious data-series, our GDP growth rate has been inflated. Many commentators and economists continue to point out the deeply flawed statistical basis of such data projections.

He argued that when calculated on the basis of the older basis points, government’s 7.4 per cent growth rate came down to 5.2 per cent and added that the decline in the fundamental economic indicator — Gross Domestic Capital Formation — meant waning investments in economy. Plummeting industrial production index and manufacturing growth rate between October and November also suggest fall in employment generation, the CPI(M) leader said.

Yechury further said that while the government extended “phenomenal” tax concessions to corporate sector, common people and farmers suffered due to rising prices and agrarian crisis. Besides, the tax concessions to corporate sector have not been even successful- exports have fallen and while FDI norms have been relaxed to allow foreign players “maximise their profits” by exploiting Indian mineral resources and cheap labour, no corresponding benefits have accrued to the domestic economy.

Drawing attention to farmers’ suicide, he accused BJP of “betraying peasants by not keeping its electoral promise of offering minimum support prices at least 150 per cent of the costs of production.”

Moreover, he also alleged that the NDA was not passing the benefits of falling global oil prices to the people and relieving them relief from “relentless” price rise.

“Newer levies like the cess for Swachh Bharat (and the rumoured cess on skill development) will only add to the existing burden. Remember, the revenue of such cesses are not shared with the states. The central govt is clearly augmenting its revenues in order to show a reduction in the fiscal deficit prior to the 2016 budget,” he claimed.