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Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in denial mode.

The Congress on Friday said the low GDP growth in the last quarter of 2019-20 was “a telling commentary” on the BJP-led government’s economic management and its misplaced priorities.

In a series of tweets, former Finance minister P. Chidambaram said the GDP numbers did not fully capture the impact of the four stages of lockdown that started on March 25 .

“We had forecast that GDP for Q4 will touch a new low at below 4 per cent. It has turned out to be worse at 3.1 per cent. Remember, this is pre-lockdown. Of the 91 days of Q4, lockdown applied only to 7 days. It is a telling commentary on the economic management of the BJP government,” Mr. Chidambaram tweeted.

“3.1 pc and 4.2 pc – these are not merely numbers. This is the product of BJP Govt’s failures and misplaced priorities,” the Congress party said on its official Twitter handle.

Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in denial mode. “Let it sink in. Latest Q4 GDP growth is the lowest in 11 years since India was hit by the global financial crisis. Figure includes only 1 week of lockdown. Mr. Modi managed to run down Indian economy BEFORE lockdown. Expect more ‘naatakbaazi’ (drama) from its ‘ustad’ tomorrow,” he tweeted.

“If the Modi government continues to be in denial about how badly it has managed the economy, India will truly be ‘parm-atma-nirbhar’ (dependent on God),” Mr. Ramesh added.

Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said this was the lowest GDP growth rate in the last 44 quarters. He said manufacturing at minus 1.4% clearly indicated that demand had collapsed in the economy and was a cause for concern and a failure of the ‘Make in India’ program.

“Who is to be held accountable for the continuous slide in the economy since the last 4 years,” Mr. Vallabh asked and added, “We demand an explanation to the nation about the failure of the much-marketed ‘Make In India’ program. Government should come ahead and accept the failure of demonetisation and faulty implementation of GST”.

With inputs from The Hindu

In 2019-20, the Indian economy grew by 4.2% against 6.1% expansion in 2018-19.

Economic growth slowed to an 11-year low of 4.2% in 2019-20, according to data released by the National Statistical Office on Friday.

In the final quarter of the year, that is, January-March, the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell to 3.1%, reflecting the impact of the first week of the COVID-19 lockdown which began on March 25.

Although this is the lowest growth rate in the last 44 quarters, it is still higher than the 2.2% growth predicted by most economists and ratings analysts.

“Agriculture and government expenditure have been the saviours,” said Devendra Pant, chief economist at the Fitch Group’s India Ratings.

Agriculture and mining sectors picked up steam in the fourth quarter, growing at rates of 5.9% and 5.2% respectively, even while the manufacturing sector contracted further, recording a negative growth of 1.4%. Public administration, defence and other services grew at 10.1%.

Although the budget estimate for GDP growth in 2019-2020 had been pegged at 8.5%, the NSO’s previous estimates had pushed the projection down to 5%. On Friday, the NSO also revised downward its estimates for the first three quarters of the year, and pegged its provisional growth estimate for the whole year at 4.2%. The Indian economy grew at 6.1% in 2018-19.

“The most disturbing news is that the three components of demand have fallen — consumption demand has slowed, while investments and exports are both in negative territory,” said D.K. Srivastava, chief policy advisor for Ernst and Young who is also a member of the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission. He also expressed concern about the Controller General of Accounts data showing that the Centre’s gross tax revenues fell an unprecedented 3.4% in 2019-20, while fiscal deficit increased to 4.6% of GDP, well above the revised estimate of 3.8%.

“Please note that this has all happened in the year prior to COVID. In the five years before the 2008 crisis, we had maintained an 8% GDP grwoth, so the capacity to endure and recover was stronger. Now we are faced with a weaker economy and much weaker public finances and fiscal capacity,” said Dr. Srivastava.

“Going forward, with private expenditure growth dwindling due to shut down and labour migration; investment demand contracting due to weak consumption demand and stretched corporate balance sheet; government expenditure will again be the growth engine in 2020-21,” said Dr. Pant. Although weak commodity prices and import demand will also provide some support to growth, the economy will contract this year for the first time since 1980, he said.

With inputs from The Hindu

The director-level officer, who attended work on May 28, was found positive for the infection along with his family members, said sources

PTI

A Rajya Sabha Secretariat official tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, the fourth such case reported in the Parliament complex so far, sources said here.

Out of the four, three were found to have contracted the infection after Parliament resumed operations on May 3 when Lockdown 2.0 ended and were on duty.

The director-level officer, who attended work on May 28, was found positive for the infection along with his family members, they said.

Two floors of the Parliament’s Annexe building have been sealed, the sources added.

This is the second case of an official posted in the building testing positive for the infection.

Earlier, an official of the Lok Sabha Secretariat working in the editorial and translation (E&T) services department was found positive for COVID-19.

The first employee posted at Parliament to test positive for the virus was a housekeeper, who had been at home since the Budget Session was adjourned on March 23, the sources said, adding that the other one was a security official.

After the Lok Sabha Secretariat official contracted the disease, the authorities had sanitised the entire premises on the building before resuming operations and continued to take all precautions thereafter.

Employees are now allowed to enter Parliament only after proper screening.

All vehicles are also sanitised before entering the complex.

The sources suggested that there have been a few symptomatic cases of coronavirus among employees working in different secretariats and branches at Parliament and its adjoining buildings.

Government buildings in the vicinity of the Parliament complex such as Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan and NITI Aayog, which have offices of several ministries and ministers, were sealed for a day or two following the detection of COVID-19 cases there.