The honourable Member of the Opposition has stated that this Budget lacks direction, lacks an economic philosophy and I must say that his understanding of Parliamentary procedure and understanding of economics is demonstrated by both the statements that he made in Parliament and on economic philosophy. We confronted a very difficult set of economic circumstances when we rose to present the Budget. The Budget was presented in 45 days. The Budget had to take into account some very daunting economic challenges that we had to put in context and address fully. We also had to prepare the economy to be able to reach a sustainable growth trajectory of eight to 10 per cent a year. That is what the people of India need, demand and we must deliver for them. We also had to address the concerns of our business people and investors in India and around the world.
These were the economic circumstances we had to deal with. I would implore the Members of this House and the business community to understand that what we have tried to do in the Budget is not to play a T-20 game. This is not a T-20 game. Maybe the Member in the Opposition thinks that we can solve all the problems that we have inherited in a short order of a few months. It does not work like that. The economy is a battleship. It is an aircraft carrier. It takes a long time to turn around the challenges and problems we have inherited. This is not a T-20 match. This is not even a one-day match. This is a five-day test match and the game has just begun; I must say that this is before lunch and we are doing extremely well so far.
Another very important point to remember in terms of context is that one-third of the fiscal year is already over. Many of the allocations that you are seeing in the Budget represent the allocations taking into account this fact. It takes time to get the government machinery working and, therefore, this is a prudent and sensible allocation of funds to many of these proposals.
The Member from the Opposition desired to present many facts. I will say about statistics is that what they can reveal is very interesting, but what they conceal is vital. So, what did he conceal in his speech to us, to the Members of the House? What he concealed was that they inherited an economy in very good shape, in rude good health, which was then the NDA departed in 2004.
What did they leave in return? What did they leave for the people of India when they departed? Those are the facts that he has not presented. They left an economy which today among the major economies in the world is doing the most poorly. GDP growth rate has plunged below five per cent, which is the worst economic performance in 25 years; two years of consecutive below five per cent growth. For an economy like India, which is in a demographic sweet spot, to have that kind of a growth rate is just scandalous. I think, he has to take the responsibility for that. It is shameful that he has not revealed that. In addition to that, he spoke about inflation, he spoke about mehangai and he talked about prices.
Does he know that for the last five years, consumer inflation that affects the most vulnerable aspects of our population has been running at eight to 10 per cent a year, which is higher than in any other major economy in the world? That is truly shameful. What are we talking about when the Member of the Opposition presents his facts? He has to take the responsibility for that. That is hurting the most vulnerable people of this population. He talked about inclusion, and yet this was what they did for the people of India. I am truly embarrassed with that they have done in terms of their economic performance, and that is entrenched inflation, inflation that has been running for five years. But the reality is that if you look at inflationary price rise, what happens to fruits and vegetables in the fallow period of the year, July to September, when we are between two crops? This is the time when we are seeing price hikes running in a way that is completely intolerable for the people of India. We have a situation where the price of onions gets to Rs 80, Rs 100 a kg. On the other hand, as we have managed these price hikes, we have kept through a series of aggressive and decisive actions, the price is Rs 25, Rs 30 a kg. This is what acche din mean. This is the decisive action that is required in the economy.
This is what they gave us. I cannot imagine how he can present that with any degree of pride and justification in what they have done. This is what we are managing.
In addition to that, let us also recognise what the UPA did in terms of their monetary and fiscal policies. We ended up in a situation where they were negative real interest rates. People lost confidence in investing in India and putting their money in the banks. Domestic savings rates dropped from 33 per cent to 30 per cent. People were hedging their savings through gold. Gold imports spiked up leading to a current account deficit of 4. 7 per cent, and the value of dollar has gone up to Rs 68, Rs 70. People completely lost confidence in India and as a result of that, we had that crisis of confidence, the crisis among the population of India that refuse to invest, that crisis among both domestic and foreign business that refuse to invest in India.
Due to that crisis of confidence, the Members of the Opposition are sitting where they are, that is the reason why your numbers are what they are. It is because the people of India lost confidence in your economic management.
Madam Speaker, that is what we have restored with this Budget.
I have been in conversations with business people - domestic and foreign; and I have been in conversations with investors - domestic and foreign; and I can tell you that our first and primary objective in this Budget has been amply achieved, and that is to restore confidence in the Government of India, and in the economic management of the government. We have achieved that.
Edited excerpts from a speech on the debate on the Union Budget 2014-15 by Jayant Sinha, MP from Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha, July 16 in New Delhi
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