A R DAS
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today, highlighted that the current interest in the Foreign Direct Investment inflow is at its peak and is projected to grow further.
Speaking at a conclave of a private news channel, Ms. Sitharaman underscored the need for greater coordination between centre, state and local bodies on reforms across sectors that cascade down to the last mile. She further added that empowering people by giving them basic facilities will automatically enable recognition of rights.
She said that the government is achieving massive strides in skill training in new age technologies including Artificial Intelligence and Drone technology. The Finance Minister further added, the government is using various schemes to increase household savings and consumer expenditure. Replying to a question on the Electoral Bond (EB) Scheme, Ms. Sitharaman said that huge assumptions have been made after the data release.
Acknowledging the imperfection of the EB scheme, she emphasised that it was one bit better than the previous system of political funding and ensured white money was transferred. Respecting the wisdom of the Supreme Court, Ms. Sitharaman said that effort should be to learn from this and ensure transparency in the upcoming law if and when it comes. She criticised the alleged hypocrisy of the opposition for protesting against good reforms of the present government.
The Finance Minister said that the reform work of the Modi government is undertaken consistently irrespective of political bids. Talking about the freebie policies of political parties, the finance Minister denounced the opposition for introducing unattainable policies in a bid to garner votes. She also hailed the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for curbing corruption. Speaking on the growing debate around North -South divide, Ms. Sitharaman dubbed it as an alleged tactic of the state parties to attack the central government and blame them for propagating such a political propaganda.