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The recently concluded interim budget session of the parliament may be said to be exceptionally remarkable in many ways. While the customary address to the joint sitting of parliament by President Smt. Draupadi Murmu highlighted the amazing achievements of India, the sincere efforts made by members during discussions in both houses of parliament reinforce the people’s faith in the Indian democratic system. The discussions on the motion of thanks for the presidential address, interim budget, white paper, and Shri Ram Temple, apart from various bills, have enriched the understanding of the people about India’s rapid stride in the last ten years. While stabilising the economy and setting it on a path of recovery and growth, the discussions emphasised the need to address the challenges left behind by the UPA government. The overwhelming mandate given to the BJP-led NDA under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Shri Narendra Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls not only reflected the public’s desire for a reversal of the economic and fiscal challenges faced by the country during Congress-led UPA misrule but also a result of people acknowledging the successes in overcoming challenges while emphasising the continued journey ahead into a glorious and bright future.
The White Paper presented by Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on the economy in the Lok Sabha has completely exposed the financial mismanagement, policy paralysis, pervasive corruption, and looting
The overwhelming mandate given to the BJP-led NDA under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Shri Narendra Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls not only reflected the public’s desire for a reversal of the economic and fiscal challenges faced by the country during Congress-led UPA misrule but also a result of people acknowledging the successes in overcoming challenges while emphasising the continued journey ahead into a glorious and bright future
of public money during the Congress-led UPA misrule of ten years, spanning from 2004 to 2014. It is an established fact now that the UPA’s ten years of misrule left behind an “inheritance of loss,” while the Narendra Modi-led NDA government may be credited with rescuing the economy from a state of crisis, despair, and policy paralysis. The paper has rightly attributed the few years of high growth during the UPA era to reforms initiated by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, which left the economy on a trajectory of more than 8% GDP growth rate, leaving behind a legacy of robust economic parameters. But all these gains were squandered away within a few years of the Congress-led UPA regime, which indulged in fiscal profligacy, opting for “quick fixes” like farm loan waivers, and failing to deliver on key reforms such as Aadhaar and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The rampant corruption, misplaced priorities, dual power centres, and lack of vision led India to an atmosphere of despair, pessimism, and loss of confidence among the people about the future. The India of 2014 was in deep crisis, facing extreme challenges on all fronts and struggling in the clutches of high inflation, a depleting forex reserve, and a decreasing rate of growth. It all resulted in of a ‘Lost Decade’ during the Congress-led UPA regime (2004–2014), as rightly summed up in the paper.
Amid the challenging times, Shri Narendra Modi emerged as the only hope for the nation and people, and for the first time in three decades, the nation elected a full majority government at the centre under his leadership. When Shri Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister in 2014, addressing the state of the economic crisis that required fixing a mismanaged economy and emphasising improvements in various macro-economic and infrastructure indicators was his top priority. The White Paper has elaborated on how hard work, continuous reforms, corruption-free governance, and a focus on the welfare and empowerment of the poor, deprived, exploited, oppressed, farmers, women, and youth have led to a huge transformation in the economy. India’s shift from being among the ‘fragile five’ economies to one of the ‘top five,’ with a significant contribution to global growth seen from the crisis of 2014, appears like some kind of miracle now. As India moves ahead by building the grand Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya and restoring the grandeur of its civilizational centres, the nation today looks forward to serving humanity by rededicating itself to its civilizational values of selfless service.
shivshaktibakshi@kamalsandesh.org