Economic growth due to good monsoon: Sinha

Attacking the UPA government, BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said 4.9 per cent economic growth is not because of government's policies but due to good monsoon.
"If there is 4.5 per cent growth or 4.9 per cent growth that is being accounted for, it is largely because of agriculture because we had good monsoon, I don't think any Prime Minister or any Finance Minister of India can claim credit for what Lord Indra (god of rain) does for us....," Sinha said.
Speaking at Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry interation meet here, he said: "If agricultural value adds has grown...It is not because of your (Government) policies, because we remain stagnant as far as irrigated fields are concerned, agriculture remains neglected and backward, dependent entirely on monsoon rains."

"This year if we are saying that the economy will grow at 4.9 or even 5 per cent, it is not because of industrial activity. It is because of agriculture....," he added.
Stating that the most important thing governing the economic activity in any modern economy is sentiment, Sinha said: "if the sentiment is defected then there will be neither consumption nor investment...."
"...Sentiment is down once again; now that sentiment will be lifted partly if there is change in the politics of this country post election, but the sentiments can be lifted effectively if we undid some of the wrongs which have been done to the economy in the past," he added.

Blaming government for its inability in handling food inflation, he said "...If you have high food inflation and you don't control the circumstances for that inflation, then it is not only that food inflation will go up vertically, it will also spread horizontally to the other sectors of the economy."
"You will be forced to raise wages, your cost of production will go up- ultimately the services sector and the industrial sector will also be affected and that is exactly what has happened...," he added.