P Chidambaram said the GDP has been steadily declining over five quarters (File)
The Congress today raised questions over union minister Jayant Sinha's claims that "structural reforms" by the government would create a "New India". Mr Sinha, in an article in
The Times of India today,
defended the government's economic policies a day after his father and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the "mess" in the economy in an article in
The Indian Express.
Describing Jayant Sinha's article as a "PIB press release", Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said he should know that administrative changes were not structural reforms.
"Jayant Sinha's article in ToI reads like a PIB (Press Information Bureau) press release. He should know that administrative changes are not structural reforms," Mr Chidambaram tweeted.
"If Jayant Sinha is right, why is the outcome a steady decline in GDP growth over 5 quarters? If Jayant Sinha is right, why is there no increase in private investment?" the Congress leader said.
"If Jayant Sinha is right, why is credit growth to industry negative? If Jayant Sinha is right, why is there poor demand for electricity and plant load factor at 50-60 per cent?" the former finance minister said.
Jayant Sinha is Minister of State for Civil Aviation. In an apparent reference to his father's critical piece, he said several articles have been written on the challenges facing the Indian economy.
"Unfortunately, these articles draw sweeping conclusions from a narrow set of facts, and quite simply miss the fundamental structural reforms that are transforming the economy," Jayant Sinha said. "Moreover, one or two quarters of GDP growth and other macro data are quite inadequate to evaluate the long-term impact of the structural reforms underway," he said.
Jayant Sinha said these structural reforms were not just desirable, they were necessary to create a "New India" and provide good jobs.
He said structural reforms by the Modi government since 2014 are the third-generation of reforms after the first in 1991 and the second in the 1999-2004 NDA government.
Unlike the first and second generation of reforms, he said the third generation of reforms "balances a better life for all Indians with the requirements of an advanced, sophisticated 21st century economy".
Yesterday, Yashwant Sinha, who was finance minister during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, had
criticised Mr Jaitley over the state of the economy, prompting a sharp rebuttal from the government.