Modi government "throttling MGNREGA", little in Economic Survey on little Ease of Living: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi [India], February 1 (ANI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Friday that the Economic Survey contains much for the Modi government to ponder over and noted that it talks of Ease of Doing Business 2.0 but is "silent on a whole new GST 2.0"
He accused the government of "throttling MGNREGA" and indulging in "tax terrorism".
Ramesh said the survey points out that the MGNREGA has been a lifeline for the rural poor, and has today evolved into a "durable rural asset creation programme" for sustainable livelihood diversification.
"In an era of accelerated climate change, it has helped boost rural ecological health through improvement of soil quality and improved water management. The Prime Minister must therefore explain why he is throttling MGNREGA by reducing allocations, excluding 27% of workers from getting paid by foisting an Aadhaar-based Payment System on them, and keeping wages low," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
"Second, it points out that there are 11.5 crore unique investors with demat accounts in Indian financial markets. It says that "higher investor participation has engendered a self-reinforcing cycle of strong market returns, bringing in even more investors. Why then is the government overseeing the corruption and weakening of a valuable national asset like SEBI, whose integrity is central to the welfare of these investors? As the Economic Survey itself says 'It is reasonable to expect that financial regulators hold themselves to the same standards that they expect of regulated entities'," he added.
The Congress leader said despite thousands of crores spent on schemes like PLI, imports from China continue unabated, with the USD 102 billion record of 2023-24 likely to be broken in 2024-25.
"This is unlikely to change in the near future, as the Economic Survey says: 'the import intensity of E-Vehicle production - especially from countries with whom India has persistent and large trade deficits - is very high'," Jairam Ramesh said.
"But protection cannot be imposed only to help large monopolies evade competition. In the most successful export stories, 'industrial policy goals were achieved not by protection alone but by policies which ensured that the protected industries performed in response to the protection afforded'. This means using protection to make companies -- especially MSMEs -- more competitive and not allowing large monopolies to dominate sector after sector for political reasons," he said.
"Finally, the Economic Survey calls for Ease of Doing Business 2.0. But it is silent on a whole new GST 2.0 and an end to the tax terrorism unleashed in the past decade," he added.
Jairam Ramesh said Economic Survey has little to say about "an Ease of Living 1.0" to ensure that the public health crisis caused by growing pollution and chemical contamination begins to be dealt with seriously.
The Economic Survey for 2024-25 was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday. (ANI)