BJP's policy blunders causing economic failure: Chidambaram
New Delhi, June 11 : Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said the BJP government's "administrative incompetence" and "policy blunders" were responsible for the rising farm distress, unemployment and failure of economy.
"Farmers' despondency has turned into anger and they have come to streets to protest," the senior Congress leader told reporters here.
"The principal reasons are uneconomic price for farm produce and stagnant wages of farm labour. MSP (Minimum Support Price) is not adequate. Every farmer knows that the promise of MSP = Cost + 50 per cent is a 'jumla'," he said.
Chidambaram said the Reserve Bank of India's confidence survey stated that 48 per cent felt that the economic situation of the country had worsened in the last 12 months.
He said unemployment was rampant in the country, which was "far cry" from the Bharatiya Janata Party's promised two crore jobs a year.
Chidambaram questioned why the Labour Bureau Survey for October-December 2017 not yet released.
Chidambaram said demonetisation had caused the growth rate to decline from 8.2 per cent in 2015-16 to 6.7 per cent in 2017-18.
"The Tamil Nadu government has officially acknowledged that 50,000 MSME units were shut down in the state in 2017-18; 5,00,000 jobs were lost; and capital investment in the MSME sector declined by Rs 11,000 crore," he said.
A flawed Goods and Services Tax continues to haunt trade and business, he added.
Chidambaram said the social security laws and programmes have been neglected by the BJP-led central government.
"The Food Security Act has not been implemented. MGNREGA is no longer demand-driven, wage arrears have mounted. Crop Insurance covers barely 30 per cent of farmers, it is a windfall for insurers. Health Protection Scheme is another 'jumla'," he said.
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Bengaluru: Karnataka’s district judiciary is facing a significant shortage of judicial officers, with approximately 27.5% of positions across the state's district courts remaining vacant.
According to data cited by The Times of India on Tuesday, out of a total of 21,541 positions, 5,926 remain unfilled, leading to concerns about the efficiency of the state's justice system.
Bengaluru city is particularly affected, with 835 vacancies out of 2,510 sanctioned posts. Bengaluru Rural courts follow closely with 532 vacant positions from a total of 1,003 sanctioned roles. Mandya district shows an alarming vacancy rate, with 376 vacancies against 844 sanctioned positions.
Several other major districts are also grappling with alarming staffing deficits, including Mysuru (299 vacancies) Belagavi (345), Tumakuru (279), Dakshina Kannada (312), and Hassan (207).
Apart from vacancies of judicial officers, 243 of the 1,395 sanctioned posts for district judge, ad-hoc district judge, senior civil judge and civil judge remain vacant, the report added.
Legal experts have stressed that addressing the judicial vacancy crisis should be a priority for the state government to ensure the effective functioning of the justice delivery system. These staffing shortages may contribute significantly to case backlogs and undermine public confidence in the judiciary.
Meanwhile, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M.B. Patil, recently stated in the legislative assembly that efforts to fill the vacancies are underway. He cited a notification from February 2025, which will see 158 civil judge positions filled in the near future.
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