A political white paper

The white paper tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament last week, which sought to accuse the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government of serious economic mismanagement, is more a political document than an assessment of economic performance. The rationale for bringing out the white paper is clearly the approaching elections. The  government has sought to compare the management of the economy by the BJP government since 2014-15 with its management by the Congress-led UPA government (2004-05 to 2013-14). Its case is that it has managed to bring the economy back from a disastrous situation and has made it the fifth largest in the world. It says that the economy was in a “fragile state” with public finances in a bad shape during the UPA period which was marked by many corruption scandals. It takes credit for putting the economy on the recovery path. 

The economic performance of any government can be criticised because there are always shortcomings and failures in policies and their implementation. There were negative issues like inflation, parlous financial position of banks, and corruption cases during the UPA period. But it was also the period when the economy grew at the fastest pace. The UPA government laid the foundation for the country’s social security system with the national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) and the national food security act, which the Modi government has continued and extended despite all its claimed economic success. Reforms were also effected during the UPA period in the telecom and insurance sectors. Economies cannot always be seen in isolation; they are continuous entities. The white paper credits the present government with effective use of Aadhaar and implementation of GST. Aadhaar was envisioned and achieved during the UPA period. The GST was conceived during UPA but opposed by the BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat under Narendra Modi. The JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) platform to deliver goods and services more efficiently also had its beginnings in the UPA era. 

The white paper is selective in its apportionment of credit and blame. The failure to generate employment has been a feature of economic growth during the periods of both the UPA and the NDA. But the white paper is silent on that. It has also not mentioned the demonetisation decision of the Modi government which dealt a serious blow to the economy and killed large numbers of small enterprises and deprived millions of poor of their livelihoods for months together. Inequality and hunger and livelihood issues have increased in the country, according to surveys. In response to the government’s white paper, the Congress has brought out a black paper to indict the Modi government over its wrong policies, acts of injustice and economic mismanagement. The paper war can only be taken as pre-election political warfare with a lot of heat but without much light.