Page 39 - 15DEC2019E-5

ECONOMY

valedictory address at a national con- of our society and nurse us back to a independent institutions such as the
clave on economy, Singh said mutual harmonious, confident and mutually media, judiciary, regulatory authorities,
trust is the bedrock of societal transac- trustworthy society that can revive and investigative agencies has been
tions fostering economic growth, but the animal spirits and help our severely eroded. This toxic combina-
“our social fabric of trust, confidence is economy soar.” tion of deep distrust, pervasive fear and
now torn and ruptured”. a sense of hopelessness in our society
The “toxic combination of deep e said that a nation’s state of is stifling economic activity and hence
distrust, pervasive fear and a sense of the economy is also a reflection economic growth,” he said.
hopelessness in our society” is stifling H of the state of its society. “An Singh said root cause of this is the
economic growth, he said. “The GDP economy is a function of the numer- government’s policy doctrine that
figures released earlier today point the ous exchanges and social interactions seems to suspect every industrialist,
growth rate of our economy in the sec- among the people and institutions. banker, policy maker, regulator, entre-
ond quarter of the current fiscal year Mutual trust and self-confidence are preneur and citizen, which has halted
is as low as 4.5 per cent. This is clearly the bedrock of societal transactions economic development with bankers
unacceptable. And, the aspirations that fosters economic growth. Our unable to lend, industrialists unable
of our people want that this country social fabric of trust and confidence is to invest and policymakers unable to
should grow at 8 to 9 per cent per now torn and ruptured,” he noted. act. The “government seems to view
annum. Therefore, the sharp decline “There is a palpable climate of fear everything and everyone through a
in growth rate from 5 per cent in first in our society today. Many industrial- tainted prism of suspicion and distrust
quarter to 4.5 pc in second quarter is ists tell me they live in fear of harass- through which every policy of previous
indeed worrisome.” ment by government authorities. governments was considered of bad
Singh, an eminent economist him- Bankers are reluctant to make new intent, every loan sanctioned was
self, said with an absolute majority in loans, for fear of retribution. Entre- undeserving, every new industrial
Lok Sabha and low global oil prices, the preneurs are hesitant to put up fresh project was crony in nature and so on”.
government has a once-in-a-genera- projects, for fear of failure attributed For economic growth to revive,
tion economic opportunity to catapult to ulterior motives. Policy makers it is very important that the govern-
India to the next phase of economic in government and other institu- ment enthuses trust and confidence.
development and create new jobs for tions are scared to speak the truth It is very important for businessmen,
hundreds of millions of youth. or engage in intellectually honest capital providers and workers to feel
In a direct message to Prime Minis- policy discussions. There is profound confident and exuberant rather than
ter he said, “I urge the Prime Minister fear and distrust among our various being fearful and nervous. This is pos-
to set aside his deep-rooted suspicion economic participants. Public trust in sible only if the government sheds its
current doctrine and begins to trust
India’s farmers, India’s entrepreneurs
and India’s citizens at large.
The former PM observed “There is
no one today that can deny the sharp
slowdown in India’s economy and its
disastrous consequences, particularly
for farmers, youth and the poor. But it
is my belief that mere changes in eco-
nomic policy alone will not help revive
the economy. We need to change the
current climate in our society from
one of fear to one of confidence for
our economy to start growing robustly
again.”
He noted that India is now a USD-3
trillion global economic powerhouse
driven largely by private enterprise
and it is not a tiny command and con-
trol economy that can be bullied and
directed at will.
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