NEW DELHI, Sept 12 - Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday hit out at the Narendra Modi-led NDA government�s �complacency over the slowdown in the economy and said that there�s an atmosphere of �gloom and doom� all around.
Speaking at the meeting of all general secretaries, state in-charges, state unit chiefs, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders, Manmohan Singh said, �The country is today in the midst of dangerous protracted slowdown. And this is not only statement being made by the Congress leaders, but everywhere when you talk to people of industry and journalists the economy is going bad to worse.�
The former Prime Minister said: �The dangerous thing about present situation is that the government is complacent enough not to realise that we are in the midst of protracted economic slowdown.�
Singh also pointed that the rupee was getting weaker and weaker, �but exports have been sluggish under the NDA regime�, and the result is the balance of payments situation getting worse and worse.
The former Prime Minister said that the first quarter of 2019-20, the national income growth rate declined to 5 per cent. �This reminds me of the situation of 2008 when our government was in power because of international financial crisis we faced a very challenging situation. And we faced that situation head on and we converted that crisis into an opportunity to revitalise our economy,� he said referring to the steps taken by the UPA government in 2008 to revive the economy.
In the situation that our country is faced today whether you look at agriculture, real estate, manufacturing all along the line there is downturn in the economy, he highlighted. He underlined that if the situation was not reversed, the worst thing would happen on the employment situation.
�If income growth slows down month after month, quarter after quarter the scope for creating more jobs for young people is going to be seriously affected,� he said.
Singh said that agriculture which is the corner stone of our economic activity in the country as 60 per cent of the family live on agriculture and the latest figures of the growth rate of agriculture is 2.7 per cent as against previous year of 4.35 per cent.
�The dangerous point is that the real wage rate in agriculture and rural sector has been reduced in last five years of the NDA government.�
Singh also said that the demand is going down, �The manufacturing industries are affected of not having demand for want of investment, incentives and result is that there is an all round fear of gloom and doom,� he said. � IANS
