Modi Government has Exposed the hollow claims of economic progress so far
Anant Mittal
According to the Economic Survey, the 8.2 percent growth claimed in the economy in the current financial year 2023-24 has been mostly jobless. The survey has duly expressed concern that the profits of the corporate sector have increased significantly in the current financial year, but the rate of capital investment has been very low in comparison. It is clear from this that the opposition’s allegation that the Modi government is pro-capitalist and the opportunities to provide employment to the huge youth population between 15 and 35 years of age, which is more than half of the country, in the economy are negligible. Due to this, the latest rate of unemployment is more than nine percent according to CMIE. However, according to the government survey, the unemployment rate is below four percent, while in the same, generating new jobs has been described as a big challenge. The survey itself is indicating that it is necessary to create at least 70 lakh new opportunities annually to provide employment to young hands in the country. Similarly, the survey has raised concerns by raising the question of protecting the interests of retail investors who invest micro capital in the stock market. For this, some new measures should be taken by SEBI. Just remember that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had demanded a joint parliamentary committee inquiry, alleging that there was a well-planned conspiracy behind the unwarranted rise in the stock market by showing fake exit poll results and that the retail investors lost their capital on a large scale when the actual results showed BJP’s defeat.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in his speech, while claiming that the Modi government will be formed again with a clear majority for the third time in a row, had actually claimed an unprecedented surge in the stock market. Since more than ten exit polls had shown results in line with Amit Shah’s claims, the stock market did indeed surge tremendously the next day and speculators made a lot of money.
In the same rush, retail investors also invested their capital in expensive shares, so when the actual results of the general elections came on June 4 and the trend of BJP lagging behind and voters voting heavily for the constituent parties of the opposition India Alliance including Congress came out from the morning, the stock market crashed. It is obvious that retail investors were the ones who suffered the blow and they had to suffer huge losses. Many retail investors had invested money in the stock market by taking loans, but when the recession came due to BJP’s defeat, they were ruined.
Now the advocacy of protecting the interests of retail investors in the Economic Survey is proving the opposition’s apprehensions correct. The fact that half of the country’s capital is limited to only two percent of the population, as seen in the survey, is also proving the opposition’s allegation of increased economic inequality in the society during the last ten years of Modi rule to be correct. Will the Modi-led NDA government, taking the lesson of the voters after losing the majority in the elections, impose any additional tax on capitalists to bridge the gap of economic inequality in the next five years including this budget?
Similarly, the anomaly of reducing corporate tax to about 25 percent and keeping personal income tax at 30 percent is also a big challenge for Finance Minister Sitharaman. Prime Minister Modi’s argument behind the historic five percent cut in corporate tax rates was that this would provide capitalists with more capital for private investment in new projects in the country itself and that would increase employment. The current Economic Survey completely refutes this claim of his and is expressing concern over the lack of desired growth in capital investment despite the increase in corporate profits. This also proves the opposition’s allegation right that the Modi government has made policies to fill the pockets of capitalists and the Prime Minister is not at all concerned about removing unemployment and poverty spread by demonetization, arbitrary GST rates, and Covid-lockdown.
It is surprising that even the declared capitalist US imposed additional tax on high income earners after the severe shock to its economy due to Covid, but the Modi government, instead of imposing any additional tax on the Indian capitalists who earned huge profits even during the deadly Covid period in the country, helped them to bring in huge amount of foreign capital to expand their business in online retail. Thus, the Economic Survey is completely exposing the hollow claims of the BJP-NDA governments from within the world’s fastest growing Indian economy.
The survey has presented arbitrary figures ranging from inflation to unemployment and from capital formation to unprecedented growth in business and industries. Rather than telling the ground reality of inflation and unemployment in the country, these figures have more to do with sugarcoating the claims of increased GST collection, increase in the number of taxpayers and GDP growth rate of 8.2 percent in the current financial year.
However, the survey has pointed out the need for corrective measures in the Ayushman scheme. Because many cases of fraud in the name of treatment have been detected in more than 30,000 hospitals listed in it. Currently, more than 34 crore people are registered under it. Now their number is likely to increase by about six crores because in the 2024 election manifesto, BJP had promised to give the benefit of Ayushman scheme to all the elderly people above 70 years of age in the country.
It is obvious that in view of the assembly elections to be held in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand this year, BJP will show speed in implementing it. Therefore, the ways of implementing it can be seen in the budget. Similarly, to make raw material cheaper for export, pharma and paper mills can be benefited by reducing GST and customs duty. The suggestion of setting up new areas of export is also evident from the survey.
Similarly, as a measure to keep the environment clean, the survey also indicates the intention to increase measures to encourage the production and use of battery-operated vehicles that run on electricity and are called electric vehicles. The survey also underlines the need to continue the existing concessions given on the purchase of these vehicles, commonly called EVs, and to announce a clear policy to encourage their use for the next five years.
