After Sinha, RSS-affiliate labour body tears into Modi govt; Ambani remains hopeful

New Delhi: After Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha lashing at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for making a "mess" of the Indian economy, an RSS-affiliated labour organisation Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "retract from the present reform process" and stop laying "excess thrust" on jobless growth that has resulted in mounting unemployment.

Saji Narayanan, National President of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, in a statement demanded the government declare a stimulus package towards employment generating activities in labour intensive sectors "to contain slowdown of the economy".

"The present slowdown is the result of wrong direction of the economy and job displacing reforms followed as a continuation of the UPA policies," Narayanan said. He said Prime Minister Modi`s "good intentions and efforts are neutralized by lack of proper experts, lack of communication and feedback from social sectors and dependence on faulty advisors and misguided reforms".

The government`s "excess thrust on jobless growth resulted in loss of employment instead of job creation. (Foreign Direct Investment) FDI had already destructively affected our micro and small scale sector as well as retail trade sector. Many of the financial activities of the government including banking activities are also getting slowed down", according to the statement. Asking the government to "retract from the present reform process", Narayanan sought lifting the ban on recruitment to enable job creation.

"Strengthening the purchasing power of common man is the main solution to stimulate our economy. Benefits of any stimulus package should not be siphoned to the private and corporate sector. Stimulus package should directly benefit the three highest employment generating sectors -- agriculture, small scale sector (including those in manufacturing sector) and construction sector." Narayanan said the rural job scheme MGNREGA -- created by the previous Congress government -- was "now in a crisis in many states because of non-payment of wages even after six months".

"The government should increase the work days of MGNREGA from present 100 days to 200 days per year and link it to agricultural works. It should also arrange payment of wages directly to their bank accounts on the next working day itself. This will soothe India`s large rural economy."

He said the agriculture sector is also in shambles and should be revived by providing more subsidy and loan waiver.Seeking strong government intervention in support of the social sector that can revive the economy, Narayanan said it was mainly through government investment, and not only by private investment, that the nation can "get over the slowdown".

"To achieve this, BMS reiterates its long pending demand that the government should call a round table meet of all the stakeholders in the social sector including that of labour to discuss about economic concerns."

Sinha spits fire

Sinha had earlier claimed that the economy is headed for a "hard landing" as sector after sector is slipping into distress. In an editorial page article in a national leading national daily, Sinha, who was Finance Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "claims he has seen poverty from close quarters (and) his finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters".

Sinha said Jaitley had been luckier than his predecessors to hold the Ministry at a time when lakhs of crores of rupees were at his disposal following the depressed global crude oil prices.But he wasted the oil bonanza which "was waiting to be used imaginatively".

"The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better... But the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse."

Ambani backs government

Despite government facing strong opposition from its associates, Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani, speaking at the first-ever `India Mobile Congress 2017` in the capital today, backed the government saying that the Indian economy has grown unparalleled and in the next 10 year. He also said the economy will reach $7 trillion from the current $2 and a half trillion where, the Indian telecom and IT industry will play a key role in creating digital transformation.

(With Agency Inputs)