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Pranab urges Opp to improve investment climate in country
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday blamed the grim global financial situation for India’s rising inflation even as he defended the Government’s actions to contain it. But the Opposition said the Finance Minister’s assertion, in his reply to the debate on inflation and price rise in Lok Sabha, was not sufficient to handle the present crisis and staged a walkout.
Contending that economic growth has been high during UPA rule, the Finance Minister admitted that GDP of 7 per cent was “not adequate” but refused to accept the Opposition contention that it was all time low.
“There is no link between inflation and growth. We shall have to contain inflation. We shall have to go for higher growth. Please don’t say that nothing has happened,” he said to the adverse reactions from the Opposition benches. He sought the Opposition’s cooperation to improve the country’s investment climate.
He argued that price rise was linked to international situation but made it clear that the Government was not in a position to increase subsidy to address the price situation.
But the BJP-led NDA and Left parties were not satisfied with his reply and staged a walkout, with Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj saying that arguments offered by Mukherjee were stale, oft-repeated and did not offer any relief to common man.
“The economy registered a growth of 7.3 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal. The annual growth is projected to be 7.5 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent recorded in 2010-11,” Mukherjee said in response to Opposition’s charges that the Government failed to tackle the economic crisis.
He also said food production, because of the efforts of the Government, increased from 198 million tonnes in 2004-05 to 241.56 million tonnes now. On Opposition’s continued attacks, Mukherjee said they could say it was not enough “but please don’t say nothing has happened”.
Mukherjee praised Swaraj, who had cited her inflating grocery bill, for her eloquence and said sometimes I get swayed by that although I don’t know Hindi much.
Countering the arguments of Opposition members, he said: “Don’t teach me what a village is. When many a people living in a totally different atmosphere speak of it, I simply laugh at it. I know what a village is. I come from a village. I am a village boy. Upto my graduation, I stayed in the village and not in Connaught Place.”
On the controversy over subsidies on petroleum goods, he said, the issue could be discussed collectively.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday blamed the grim global financial situation for India’s rising inflation even as he defended the Government’s actions to contain it. But the Opposition said the Finance Minister’s assertion, in his reply to the debate on inflation and price rise in Lok Sabha, was not sufficient to handle the present crisis and staged a walkout.
Contending that economic growth has been high during UPA rule, the Finance Minister admitted that GDP of 7 per cent was “not adequate” but refused to accept the Opposition contention that it was all time low.
“There is no link between inflation and growth. We shall have to contain inflation. We shall have to go for higher growth. Please don’t say that nothing has happened,” he said to the adverse reactions from the Opposition benches. He sought the Opposition’s cooperation to improve the country’s investment climate.
He argued that price rise was linked to international situation but made it clear that the Government was not in a position to increase subsidy to address the price situation.
But the BJP-led NDA and Left parties were not satisfied with his reply and staged a walkout, with Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj saying that arguments offered by Mukherjee were stale, oft-repeated and did not offer any relief to common man.
“The economy registered a growth of 7.3 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal. The annual growth is projected to be 7.5 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent recorded in 2010-11,” Mukherjee said in response to Opposition’s charges that the Government failed to tackle the economic crisis.
He also said food production, because of the efforts of the Government, increased from 198 million tonnes in 2004-05 to 241.56 million tonnes now. On Opposition’s continued attacks, Mukherjee said they could say it was not enough “but please don’t say nothing has happened”.
Mukherjee praised Swaraj, who had cited her inflating grocery bill, for her eloquence and said sometimes I get swayed by that although I don’t know Hindi much.
Countering the arguments of Opposition members, he said: “Don’t teach me what a village is. When many a people living in a totally different atmosphere speak of it, I simply laugh at it. I know what a village is. I come from a village. I am a village boy. Upto my graduation, I stayed in the village and not in Connaught Place.”
On the controversy over subsidies on petroleum goods, he said, the issue could be discussed collectively.
