Congress questions authenticity of Maha agri growth figures

Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has questioned the authenticity of figures quoted in the state Economic Survey, tabled in the monsoon session of the state legislature which got underway Monday.

The senior Congress leader said there has been a "drastic revision" of the agricultural growth rate in the survey.

"As per the Economic Survey of 2017-18, the estimated agriculture growth rate was minus 8.3 per cent. But in the Economic Survey report of 2018-19, this figure was revised to 3.4 per cent. It is impossible to have such a big change of almost 12 per cent. The government should show proof of such drastic changes," Chavan said.

"In 2017-18, kharif crop production had gone down 12 per cent, while rabi production reduced by 63 per cent. Then how come the agriculture growth rate rose to 3.4 per cent for 2017-18 as stated in the 2018-19 survey," he said.

Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who tabled the survey, also claimed increase in generation of jobs in the MSME sector in the state.

"The MSME sector has created some 57 lakh jobs. There has been an investment of Rs 1.16 lakh crore in this sector so far, said Mungantiwar.

Chavan also challenged this data.

"The government says 57 lakh jobs are being created in just one year and we are seeing highest ratio of unemployment in 45 years across India. This is very contradictory.

"The Maharashtra government need to be careful before claiming such figure," Chavan said.