Hard decisions of UPA to help recovery: Kharge

Congress leader says CAD has already been brought under control and foreign exchange reserves are at comfortable level

Some of the hard decisions taken by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh and RBI in the last one year will start yielding results, and the economy will bounce back this year. The current account deficit has already been brought under control and foreign exchange reserves are at comfortable level, said M Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress Parliamentary Party, here today.

“The steps taken by the UPA government and RBI last year to improve the economy have been under-estimated by many within the country. There may have been implementation issues and delays in decision-making due to a vitiated atmosphere in the country,” he said.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on Friday, Kharge said many hard decisions were already taken by the previous government – be it diesel price hikes, setting up a rail fare regulatory authority or linking rail fares to fuel prices. Such policy changes helped in insulating the tough economic decisions from political pressures.

“Transparency, open market, increased competition will help the government raise funds without increasing the tax burdens. The Direct Tax Code and the Goods and Services Tax can help speed the process,” Kharge said.

He asked Narendra Modi government to push for consensus among all states the speedy implementation of Goods and Services Tax and also help prepare the industry for this.

Stating that India has many advantages to achieve the high growth rates, he said, the UPA government had given a thrust to skill development among the youth. The effort to create a huge population of skilled and employable youth would come handy for employers.

For example, he said the previous government had doubled the number of ITIs from 5,000 to 10,000 in just five years. The number of shifts in ITI colleges also doubled, which helped increase student intake. Karnataka started five multi-skill development centres in collaboration with Germany, he said.

Kharge said, Karnataka ranks amongst the top three states in attracting foreign direct investment. It is also among the top five industrially developed states in the country, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The state accounts for more than 40 per cent of the software exports from India.

“Much needs to be done to improve the present situation and improve the sentiments among investors in our state. We have to invest in developing our infrastructure and power situation in the state. Steps are being taken by the Karnataka government to speed up pending projects and take up new projects,” Kharge, who was the railway ministry in UPA government’s last year in office, said.

He also advised the Karnataka government to aim for a high double-digit growth over the next few years. “The state government should take initiatives to expand and improve access to basic services to all sections of the society and ensure accountability at all levels and implement social schemes properly,” he added.