Congress takes lesson on economic recession

Hyderabad: Several senior leaders of Pradesh Congress Committee evinced keen interest on the issues of the economy of the country and wanted to know the impact of recession on the people.

They participated in the extended executive committee meeting of the PCC on Tuesday held at Gandhi Bhavan. AICC national official spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh has spoken on the economic recession in the country. The Congress leaders wanted to know from Vallabh how the economy would impact the common man.

They wanted to know the protection to the deposits in the banks. They have also questioned how the NDA government at the Centre was managing the fiscal deficit.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, M Shashidhar Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Konda Visweswara Reddy, Sham Mohan, Shabbir Ali and others wanted to know why the Centre did not pass on the benefit accrued to it though the reduction of the prices of crude oil in the international markets.

In his address Vallabh explained that the NDA government made 'strikes' on the economy whenever it has shown some growth. He said that the excise duty on the crude oil was raised 400 per cent when the crude oil's prices came down.

He said that, all of a sudden, the Centre has demonetised high value currency notes on the pretext of eradicating terrorism, to raise the collection of direct taxes and others. However, the collection of direct taxes has fallen.

He said that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has predicted reduction in the growth rate of the GDP by two per cent due to the demonetisation which has been proved correct.

Vallabh strongly criticised the decision of the Prime Minister to participate in the RCEP conference. He said that the government has been opening the borders to China.

The China would dump its products in the country and it would further damage the economy. He said that the impact of the GST on the unorganised sector would be known in 2020 and it would further bring down the GDP growth rate from the present 4.5 per cent per annum.

Vallabh explained that the rate of investment by Indians in other countries has risen to 18 per cent and said that the rate of investment by the foreign companies in India has come down.

He questioned the purpose of visits of the Prime Minister to countries like Saudi Arabia and the United States. He said that Narendra Modi has been going to foreign countries only to receive prizes and failed to bring any investment to the country.

He alleged that during the regime of Donald Trump, the US has reduced number of duty-free exports from India. He made it clear that unless the demand is raised, the economy would not pickup.