Pranab Mukherjee pooh-poohs charges of policy paralysis

The government has been charged with policy inertia in the recent times, especially after the fiasco on the long-awaited FDI in Retail. Other bills like insurance, banking and pension also have not seen the light of the day, with only a little more than a week remaining for the winter session of Parliament to end.

Expressing disappointment over frequent disruptions in Parliament, the Finance Minister said that for the economy to recover, it has to be demonstrated that Parliament and other institutions can function without disturbance. “Let us not institutionalise instability in Parliament,” he said.

He, however,  expressed concerns on shrinking industrial output in the country but said India’s economy has resilience to overcome the crisis, partly posed by the turmoil in western economies, especially the euro zone. India’s industrial output fell at its steepest rate in 31 months by 5.1 per cent in October as series of rate hikes and global turmoil crimped demand.

“IIP has come down…Questions have been raised,  have we entered into recession, have we entered into a phase where the economy is going to be derailed, have we entered into a situation where we cannot improve the situation and move ahead.

“These perceptions are not true and the Indian economy has the capacity and resilience to over the crisis,” the finance minister asserted replying to discussions on Appropriation Bill in the Rajya Sabha. 

He, said that recession in Europe was steering at India’s face and  the country cannot be insulated from its adverse impact. “I do hope that the measures taken by the European leaders will resolve the crisis and it won’t go beyond the affected countries, but if it extends to larger economies (in the region), any amount of bailout will not be sufficient,” Mukherjee said.