Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the Narendra Modi government had to set right the legacy of bad governance left behind by the previous UPA government at the Centre.
Speaking at the school of international and public affairs at Columbia University here Monday he said the yields of upto one lakh crore from the first few ongoing coal block auctions was proof of the improved governance brought in by the NDA coalition. Jaitley is on a private visit to the US.
"The controversial ordinances, on insurance, coal and on minerals (bills to replace which are tabled in the Lok Sabha),the proof of the pudding is in the eating, that we have actually implemented some of these and seen the consequences for the system itself," Jaitley said.
He added that the coal mine auctions would raise much more money, underlying the fact that what the Comptroller and Auditor General had said about coal block allocation losses of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was indeed an "underestimation." The CAG statement during the UPA government had led to a political uproar in the country and the opposition had painted the ruling party as being tainted with corruption.
Pointing out how the earlier system of a screening committee making allotments had been struck down by the apex court for being arbitrary and totally discretionary, Jaitley said that "it now appears that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was not being harsh,".
Regarding the spectrum auctions beginning on Wednesday, which were expected to fetch the exchequer nearly Rs.100,000 crore, Jaitley said the CAG's report on the earlier allocation of the airwaves had said "we've lost Rs.176,000 crore through the allocations" and he was criticised for speaking of a 'notional loss'.
"The close to Rs.100,000 crore going to be realised here is the real amount the market is able to generate," he added.
Regarding the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 that also seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated earlier to introduce a system of auction in granting prospecting licences, Jaitley said "the law is so obsolete that it says first-come-first-served."
"So whoever moves the application first, gets the mineral," he said describing the changes sought to be brought in.
The bill providing for raising the foreign equity cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent was introduced in the Lok Sabha Tuesday amid stiff opposition by the Left and the Trinamool Congress.
The Insurance Laws (Amendment) bill, 2015, seeks to replace an ordinance issued by the government earlier, which had come under sharp attack from various quarters.
On the issue of retrospective taxation that has been a bone of contention with foreign investors, Jaitley said the country "did not get anything on the revenue side, but lost the image of India as an investment destination" and also lost a lot of money.
He praised former prime minister Manmohan Singh saying he was always impressed by the man in his one-to-one meetings, but he was now convinced that for any lasting changes, a "hard-core politician" was needed to lead the country. Singh could not implement the changes he had in mind and what he believed in. He said only a politician like (former prime minister) PV Narasimha Rao could implement hard measures despite belonging to a party which believed in "Nehruvian economics and politics of distribution."
