Govt has brought down inflation, says Jaitley
andalib akhter / New Delhi
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for price rise in the country. He questioned prime minister studied silence over the most serious issue facing the country. Why PM Modi did not say anything about it on the completion of two years of NDA government?, asked Rahul.
Participating in discussion on price rise in the Lok Sabha, Rahul slammed prime minister for not fulfilling the promises of checking the price rise of essential commodities made during the Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul said rising prices of pulses and vegetables in the country were main concerns of the common man and the government should give a deadline to the House. When it will be controlled ? he asked. He also said the UPA government had waived over 70 thousand crore rupees loans of farmers, but the NDA gave a bailout package of 52 thousand crore rupees to corporates and did not give any relief to farmers, women and poor. He also took a dig at government’s Start-up India, Make in India and other schemes.
Intervening in the price rise discussion Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the NDA government which had inherited a double digit inflationary economy from UPA, has been able to control it. Jaitley said, during the Congress led UPA government the inflation was hovering around 10 per cent and it has been brought down to single digit through various corrective measures. He said, now Indian economy has been put on fast trajectory of growth and it is considered as one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
Jaitley said, this year the country receiving good rainfall which will boost better crop prospects leading to further easing of prices of essential food items including pulses. He said, the requirement of pulses in the country is to the tune of 230 lakh tonnes but the production is only 170 lakh tonne leaving a gap of 60 lakh tonne.
Mr Jaitely informed the House that due to the good monsoon, for the first time in the country, the pulse production is likely to go up beyond 200 lakh tonne. The Finance Minister also rejected the allegations of not passing on the benefits of fall in crude oil prices to the consumers.
Initiating the discussion P Karunakaran of CPI(M) asked the government to take actions against black-marketing and hoarding to contain the prices. He questioned, why the benefits of low prices of petrol and diesel in the international market are not being passed on to the common man. Saying that farmers are not getting better prices of their produce, Mr. Karunakaran urged the government to come up with remedial measures for their welfare.