KTR seeks expenditure details of borrowings by Central govt

Hyderabad: Industry Minister KT Rama Rao slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ignoring people's welfare and demanded to disclose the expenditure details of borrowings sourced by the Union government.

He said that before Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed the office, the country's debt was Rs 56 lakh crore. The Modi government alone borrowed more than Rs 80 lakh crore. Yet, the rising inflation and escalating prices of essential commodities were breaking the back of the people, he charged. Recently, the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) issued a severe warning that 37 per cent of the country's annual income was being spent towards servicing the interest for the money borrowed by the Union government, he quoted as saying Union Industries Minister in a statement recently . According to Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, the Central government should not borrow more than 40 percent of the GDP, but the Modi Government had already incurred 54 percent of its debt, the CAG reported.

"The CAG has warned that if the situation persists, there is a risk of country's economy collapsing" KTR said. He took serious objection to the Prime Minister's comment on freebie culture. During the last eight years, the Centre had ignored welfare of the people. GST was being imposed on essential items like milk and curd. Poverty had increased substantially. "India now ranks at 101 among 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index – which is a matter of shame. As per the Central government statistics 35.5 per cent of children born in the country are malnourished" he said. While, the Central government borrows lakhs of crores as debt and fails to make good use of the amount, it spews venom on State Governments for introducing different welfare schemes for the poor, he said.

Wondering what exactly was freebie in the Prime Minister's opinion, the Minister said free electricity, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, were providing some succor to farmers. The Central government, which lacks vision for farmers' welfare, had introduced draconian anti-farmer laws, he said. It was unfortunate that Centre failed to support the textile sector but Telangana government launched several welfare programmes for weavers. "Will Netannaku Cheyutha, Nethannaku Beema, Bathukamma sarees will be considered as freebies?" he asked. He asked the Prime Minister to spell out his opinion on Dalit Bandhu scheme, which was introduced for socio-economic upliftment of the downtrodden.

Kalyana Lakshmi, Shaadi Mubarak schemes were a blessing to poor parents to perform wedding of their daughters. Should these schemes be abolished, he questioned. The Prime Minister considers waiving loans of the poor farmer as a freebie while the Central government proactively waives off loans of corporate giants. "Isn't it true that BJP government has given corporate tax concessions worth about Rs 3 lakh crore in the last three years" , KTR said.