Government must listen to people speaking truth: Chidambaram
New Delhi, July 25 : Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government must listen to people speaking truth to power, referring to observations made by economists Arvind Panagariya, Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian.
"Government must listen to people speaking truth to power. Three eminent economists have done that today," said Chidambaram on Twitter.
"Firstly, Dr Arvind Panagariya has written eloquently about the folly of the government's trade policy and its rush towards 'import substitution'," he said.
"Secondly, Dr Raghuram Rajan has spoken passionately about the 'need to tolerate dissent' in order to become a knowledge society. Thirdly, Dr Arvind Subramanian has spoken from experience why the CEA must always provide honest and disinterested advice. He must be pained that he was not consulted on demonetisation!" Chidambaram added.
Chidambaram was referring to Arvind Panagariya's article in 'The Times of India' which said import substitution would take the economy down from turnpike to dirt road.
The former Finance Minister was also referring to Rajan's remarks made at an event organised by "The Hindu BusinessLine" where he said: "... In an atmosphere, that tolerates dissent, you can exchange ideas and have new ideas created... This strength will carry us going forward when we build top universities because scholars will be able to debate without fear of voicing their views."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
