The false propaganda of Trillion Economy
Dr. Rahul Kumar, PhD*
(Samaj Weekly)- Former MP Subramanian Swamy and a member of ruling party BJP said in a TV interview to Neelu Vyas of AAA media that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not know ABC of Economics. He also said 2022 has gone and the target of $5 trillion could not be achieved. Economy of $5, or $ 10 trillion is nothing but a false propaganda by the advisers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.
We, the people of India, have been hearing again and again from the mouth of BJP leaders that the Indian economy will be 10 trillion in 2030. This argument without any credible data was also amplified by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. The pro -government media is also screaming from the rooftop that the Modi Government is going to achieve this target in 2030.Not only this, but also the Modi Government is organizing programmes in five star hotels where Ministers, bureaucrats, business tycoons and bankers are not tired of telling the audience that the Indian economy is booming. As per December 2023 data, India’s current GDP $3.73 trillion.
India under Modi is facing challenges on several fronts.
IMF loan
It is a matter of worry that Modi Government has taken a huge loan of 205 lakh crore from International Monetary Funds( IMF). On every Indian there is a loan of 1.40 Lakh (Economics Times).
Swiss Bank deposits by Indians
Indian funds in Swiss Banks climbed to Rs. 20700 crores highest in 13 years( India Today, Jun 17, 2021).
Modi Government exposed by CAG report
1)HAL CAG has made serious allegations against HAL for flaws in the design and production of aircraft engines, causing a loss of Rs. 159 crores.
2)Ayodhya Development Project CAG has also exposed the scam of giving undue benefits to contractors in Ayodhya Development Project. A scam of giving undue benefits of about Rs. 19.73 crores to the contractors in Ayodhya.
3)Ayushman Bharat Scheme CAG has also exposed the rigging in the ‘Ayushman Bharat Scheme’ itself, in which payments have been made towards dead people by faking them being alive and has also exposed the fraud of linking 7.5 lakh beneficiaries with the same number. 88,760 patients died during treatment.
4)Toll robbery CAG has revealed the violation of toll rules and said that NHAI has wrongly collected Rs. 132 crores from passengers.
5) Dwarka Expressway CAG exposed huge rigging in Dwarka Expressway and raised the question that how the cost of building the road reached Rs. 250 crore per kilometer.
6) Bharatmala Project CAG has exposed fraud in ‘Bharatmala’ project. Almost 100 percent increase in the cost of the road has also been revealed.
7)Diversion of Pension Scheme Funds
Modi Government has diverted pension scheme funds to publicise other schemes, CAG report( Indian Express, Aug,10,2023).
8) CAG has exposed Jal Jeevan scam of ₹13,000 crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
India’ s Ranking
On Global Hunger Index, India ranked 111th of 125 countries.In the projection for 2022-23 shared by the Niti Aayog study, Bihar, Meghalaya and Jharkhand remain the states with the highest number of poor people.
Almost 100 million Dalits in India – or one third of their total number – continue to live in multidimensional poverty. According to the United Nations report of MPI, five out of six multidimensionally poor people are from lower tribes and castes.
Bank Frauds
In the fiscal year 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) documented bank frauds exceeding 302.5 billion rupees, equivalent to INR 30,000 cr.
The losses of private banks are almost as high – thanks to the Chanda Kochhar, Rana Kapoors and PMC Bank heads. When DHFL caused a loss of Rs 34,615 crore, it hit 17 banks, including private and public. ABG Shipyard, a shipbuilding firm based in Gujarat (one cannot miss the irony) defrauded a consortium of 28 banks, , both public and private, of Rs 22,800 crore (Jawar Sirca, The Wire).
Expenditure in Delhi during G-20
The allocated budget for the G-20 Summit was ₹990 crore.
the BJP government has spent 4,100 crores for the campaign on promoting the G-20 meetings in Delhi alone. These included erection of 800 bill boards with a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi(The Hindu, September 11,2023).
Non Performing Assests (NPAs)
The total NPAs of all scheduled commercial banks, ie, PSBs plus private and foreign banks, for the first eight years of Modi’s rule (2014-15 to 2021-22) to Rs 66.5 lakh crore
Unemployment
The job market remains depressing, especially for the youth. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy notes that the unemployment rate in the age group 20-24 years was 44.5% in the October-December 2023 quarter. For the age-group 25-29 years, it was at a 14 month high of 14.33( M.V.Rajeev Gowda & Akash Satyawati, the wire, 31Jan,2024).
Reduction in subsidies
In 2013-14, Union government subsidies accounted for 2.27% of the GDP. These now stand at 1.34% in 2023-24. Expenditure on education is less than 3% of GDP.(The Wire).
Press Freedom in India
India has fallen 11 places on the World Press Freedom Index to 161 out of 180 countries.
Flawed Democracy
India has been classified as a ‘flawed democracy’ as per the global democracy index of 2022.
In one case, the Supreme Court had termed the EC ‘toothless’.
Decline in internet growth
India’s internet growth continues to plummet, from double digit growth rates through 2016 to 2020, it slumped to about 4 percent in 2021 & 2022( Businessline).
Corruption complaints highest against Home Ministry
As per Central Vigilance Commission(CVC), 46643 complaints were received against Amit Shah’s Home Ministry in 2022( Deccan Herald, Aug,20,2023).
Multinational Companies left India
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in reply to a December 2021 question in Parliament, had said that 2,783 foreign companies ceased operations in India between 2014 and November 2021.
Indian millionaires left
The wall-street investment bank Morgan Stanley, 2018 bank report found that 23,000 Indian millionaires had left the country since 2014. More recently, a Global Wealth Migration Review report revealed that nearly 5,000 millionaires, or 2% of the total number of high net-worth individuals in India left the country in 2020 alone.(ET, Jun,19,2022).
From Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 9 years, the ruling dispensation has invested monetarily and morally in creating disorder and chaos in the country. Vendetta politics against opposition leaders has crushed the political system. Social system is broken down by Hindu vigilantism. Greed and biased attitude of some of the judges in the country has weakened the judicial system. Corporate servitude amplified.Corruption multiplied. Rising prices of essential commodities broke down the backbone of citizens. Inflation is touching the sky.
The poor remain poor, the rich become richer. The Modi Government is bankrupting the Middle Class of India by writing off 16 Lakh crore of private investors.
*Dr. Rahul Kumar, PhD in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (India), Editor Bheem Patrika. The views expressed in this article are personal
