Opposition demands white paper on Indian economy crisis

New Delhi: A demand for a white paper on the "unprecedented crisis" facing the Indian economy was made by a CPI member in the Lok Sabha today amid Opposition pleas for an urgent debate on the issue.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, "the shadow of the Great Depression has fallen on India" as the Indian economy was faced with a "deep crisis as never before".[caption id="attachment_416621" align="alignleft" width="380"] Economy in crisis. Reuters[/caption]

Blaming economic policies pursued by the government for the crisis, he said the government had remained "conspicuously silent" over the issue.

He said an "unprecedented slowdown" was being witnessed as growth in investment and production in all sectors likemanufacturing, agriculture and even the service sector, had taken a plunge.

Maintaining that industrial production index had come down to 0.1 percent, he said this meant that the economy had come to a standstill, causing stagflation.

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"This has never happened in India," Dasgupta said.

He was supported by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Basudeb Acharia (CPM), who wanted an urgent debate.

The rupee value in terms of dollar had declined significantly, while international rating agencies were downgrading Indian economy which would adversely affect FDI flow into India, Dasgupta said, adding that the government depended much on FDI inflow to boost the economy.

"You cannot attribute all this to global recession alone. It is the economic policies which the government is pursuing that has resulted in such a grave situation," he said, adding that household savings had declined and no one was coming forward to borrow money from banks for new investments.

All this, the CPI leader said, was hitting the workers and peasants very hard.

The government's only refrain was to withdraw subsidies and allow FDI in retail, he said, demanding a white paper on the economic crisis.

PTI