India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday in New Delhi that the country has gone from having a fragile economy to having one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with real GDP growth of 7.2% in 2022-23 and an expected expansion of 6.5% in the current fiscal year.
The finance minister, speaking during the Lok Sabha debate on the no-confidence vote, said that the slowdown in the world economy is in sharp contrast to India’s rapid expansion.
In spite of the Covid epidemic, Sitharaman said that the Indian economy has grown and witnessed tremendous economic development in the last nine years, mostly thanks to government measures. According to her, India is in a rare position of having reason to be hopeful about its economic future.
The finance minister took jabs at previous UPA governments, saying, “We only heard of slogans like ‘Garibi Hatao,’ but never saw it happen for six decades. We do not issue checks with future dates. Previously, we used the terms “milega,” “banega,” and “hoga.” All of this is different now that you can’t say “gaya,” “mil gaya,” or “ho gaya.”
The whole Treasury Bench seemed to agree with Sitharaman.
She claims that due of corruption, a whole generation was lost during the UPA. Growth has been robust and inflation has been kept to a minimum under NDA. Sitharaman said that her government’s approach is to empower everyone while appeasing no one. The minister of finance also took aim at INDIA, an opposition group, calling their alliance “bizarre.”
Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are at odds in Punjab. The TMC, the Left, and the Congress are all at odds in Bengal. Disputes have broken out between Left and Congress members in Kerala. She mentioned the political turmoil in J&K between the National Conference and the PDP.
Sitharaman has remarked that the system of direct benefit transfer (DBT) should be used as a template all over the world. While she did give credit to the UPA for instituting DBT, she did note that only Rs 7,367 crore were transferred that fiscal year. There has been a fivefold increase in DBT transfers, nevertheless.
She said that India’s UPI has become a model for countries all over the world. Banks were now operating professionally, and nonperforming loans had dropped dramatically from where they had been a decade before.
She said, “Aapka phailaya rayta hum saaf kar rahe hain” to peals of laughter across the treasury benches.
While updating the House on the construction of the AIIMS in Madurai, she engaged in a verbal exchange with members of the DMK over her claim that the hospital will have 900 beds, or 150 more than similar facilities elsewhere.
A storm of words broke out between DMK MPs Kanimozhi and Dayanidhi Maran and Sitharaman as they demanded to know the location of the amenities and accused the minister of deceiving the House.
