Jairam Ramesh debunks claims

Dear Friend,



I have had the chance to assess in detail some of the claims being
made by the BJP on the work done by the Congress-led UPA government on
the economy, and I think it is safe to say that there is at least one
party that adheres strongly to the belief that if you repeat a lie
often enough, people will come to start believing it.

In response to 5 big myths that the BJP is attempting to propagate, we 
have prepared a short document that lays out the facts. The full
document is available here.

The following is a brief summary:

Myth 1

The Congress has "mismanaged the economy and it is in recession"
Fact: The BJP's claim of the economy being in recession is both
technically and substantively untrue. India's average economic growth
rate during the five years of the UPA government was 8.5%, compared to
5.8% under the NDA. Even in the last year of the UPA government, when
the world economy went into recession, India's growth remains
resilient (and was higher than it was during the NDA regime).



Myth 2

The Congress led government has "hobbled both the organised
and unorganised sectors of the Indian economy"
Fact: The growth rate of the industry and services sectors increased
from 5.0% and 7.7.% under the NDA to 7.8% and 10.5% under the UPA
respectively. In addition, the UPA instituted landmark programmes for
the unorganised sector (such as the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for
workers) which did not exist under the NDA.



Myth 3

The Congress' "fiscal indiscipline has resulted in frittering
away the tremendous gains of the NDA years"
Fact: The UPA has actually reduced the fiscal deficit from 6.0% under
the NDA to 4.5% under the UPA. The UPA has done this even as it as
substantially increased funds for social programmes such as the SSA,
NHRM, NREGA, Bharat Nirman, etc. and has given much higher sums of
money to all State governments (Rs 544,000 crore more than the NDA).



Myth 4

The agriculture sector (is) "suffering on account of the
Congress' gross negligence"
Fact: Agriculture growth rate has actually increased significantly
under the UPA government to 3.1 % as opposed to 2.3% under the NDA.
for wheat and paddy, for example, the MSP was increased by 71% and 68%
respectively. The UPA also implemented the historic farm loan waiver
programme benefitting 3.68 crore farmer families.



Myth 5

The UPA Government has given a "step motherly treatment to
BJP ruled states" during its rule
Fact: The Congress led UPA Government has given more funds to the BJP
ruled states than the NDA government even conceived of giving. The
Congress-led UPA government increased Central Funding to the four
BJP-ruled States . Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Rajasthan
. by 63% (increase of Rs 73,824 crore) in its tenure, compared to the
NDA government.

As always, please feel free to share this document with others, in
order to generate informed discussion and decision-making.



Best Regards,


Jairam Ramesh

Coordinator,
Election Related Affairs,

Lok Sabha Elections 2009,
Indian National Congress

jairam@congress.org.in