FM tables white paper on economy; BJP slams Congress's black paper

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled a 'White Paper on the Indian Economy' in the Lok Sabha.

Sitharaman, in her Interim Budget speech, had announced that the government would come out with a white paper on the economy outlining the economic mismanagement in the 10 years of UPA rule till 2014.

The NDA government has overcome the crisis of those years, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development, she said.

The white paper says the Indian economy is more stable now, and on a trajectory of growth and recovery, according to media reports.

The government believes it is high time for the underlying challenges of the pre-2014 era to be discussed openly, it says. “They were tackled with sound economic management and effective governance, leading India on a path of high, sustained growth.” 

Hits back at Congress

Meanwhile, the BJP government hit back at the Congress's 'black paper' against the Modi government, claiming that the Opposition party has brought it to hide its "black deeds" and is in pain as it wants action in corruption cases stopped.

"But this will not happen. PM Modi has made it clear that there will be no compromise on the issue of corruption. There is no place for those who have looted (public money). We will expose your black deeds to people," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge released the "black paper" to highlight the alleged failures of the Union government.

Those who indulged in corruption and were behind scams worth lakhs of crores of rupees are bringing out the black paper, Prasad said wryly, and asserted that the "story of scams" is over and the country is progressing under Modi's leadership.

Central schemes

He said the government has weeded out over accounts of over 10 crore fictitious beneficiaries of government schemes.

India was seen as a fragile economy and identified with "policy paralysis" when the Congress-led UPA was in power, while it is now the fifth largest global economy and its forex reserves and foreign investment are on the rise, Prasad told reporters.

He dismissed the Congress' claim of a rise in price of essential items and unemployment, and cited figures to assert that the Modi government has created a lot of employment and tackled inflation much better than the UPA.

"We will expose the Congress. People are going to give no importance to it," he said.