Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an exclusive interview to Network18 Group Editor Rahul Joshi, said the government felt the need for the White Paper on the mismanagement of economy prior to 2014, as “glorious 10 years were lost”.
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The announcement was made in the budget speech on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government came to power in May 2014 after a 10-year rule by Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
“You’re right in pointing out that the honorable prime minister has spoken about it even in 2016. In your interview then, it was so many different sections of our society that had themselves suggested to us that you better bring a white paper out to say why the Indian economy has reached the fragile five. To say why our banks had become such a black hole, nothing could be restored of the banks. Banks were all in deep trouble. Look at the number of NPAs and the value of the NPAs, meaning what was the original value and to what extent? They had reached almost close to valueless position. So whether it was banks, whether it was the overall economy, whether it was defense procurement, whether it was a vital sector of telecom, why even minerals, every area was ridden with problems. Now, if you’re talking of corruption, well, it’s one thing, it goes to the court, people get punished, and then the monies are given back or not given back. Values are retrieved or not retrieved. That’s one side of the story.”
“But what impact did it leave on the economy? To restore your banks back to health, to make sure your country is safe, with adequate strategic equipment given to defense personnel, to make sure that your mines, which are wealth under the earth, meaning inside the earth under the soil, to use them for the benefit of the country, rather than to use them as one instrument through which you line your own pocket, what implications it had on the economy. Banks not being healthy, mines being given to brothers and sisters who did not want to extract the mineral for the benefit of the country. Spectrum allocations…”
“If it had happened in time, I wouldn’t have had to spend so much to restore BSNL, to have 2G or 4G in time. And what implication does it have on the country when 4G is not available in time, whereas the whole world is talking about 5G? So the kind of impact that it had, the mismanagement, it is not just talking about policy paralysis for a fragile five, it’s talking about every one of these steps, which, number one were immoral in the sense of not being right, and equally the kind of positive effect, if it had happened very well in a transparent fashion, it would have had on the economy. We lost 10 glorious years,” the FM said.
“To restore it to that position back and then to pull it up to now, get closer to the world’s third largest economy, is a herculean task, which I’m grateful this country had a prime minister like Modiji, who single-mindedly said, I will restore this economy back. It’s my service to the nation, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. So why the white paper now? Yes, we’ve had 10 years and prior to that there were 10 years where you saw all this happening. Policy paralysis, corruption, nation losing its endowments and so on. Ten years under Prime Minister Modi, what kind of course corrections had to happen, what kind of restoring confidence had to happen, what kind of pulling back from rut had to happen. Equally making sure you’re purchasing the equipment, removing BSNL from distress, you’re making sure BSNL employees are given their dues, you’re making sure the country gets 5G, not just 4G. Look at the coverage India has to make sure that the investor confidence is not just intact, but is growing, that within a matter of eight years, I would say we’ve reached 596,000,000,000 U. S. Dollars as our foreign exchange reserve. Just compare that with the last 10 years, at least for the sake of the elected honorable representatives who are sitting in Parliament, they should know what was it then, what effort it took to restore it here and what we should not, therefore, ever imagine or dream of doing in personal interest, forgetting the nation,” the FM said.
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“Why now? Parliament should know, too. At that time, had Prime Minister Modi not taken the call that in the interest of our nation, I would not bring it out… He didn’t bring the white paper then, because you put the nation first, you say, if I do it now, I can be happy, but the confidence in our country would have been lost. Investors wouldn’t have come. Our own people would have lost faith in the systems. They would say, “Oh my God, this government will come, eat away and go.” That next government can come, it’ll do its own. But we are all languishing. The faith in institutions, in government, in leaders, in politics, would have been lost in the minds of people. I am so grateful that the prime minister didn’t do it. Then he restored it all, put India on such a wonderful track towards becoming the third largest economy, so that all of us know what it took and what we shouldn’t do in the future, hence this paper,” she said.