India can soon be fifth largest global economy: Jaitley
Mumbai, July 12 : India can become the worlds fifth largest economy soon if firm growth continues, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.
His comments came a day after the World Bank's latest rankings placed India as the world's sixth-largest financial system, ahead of France in seventh place. As per the World Financial Institution data for 2017, India's GDP amounted to $2.597 trillion as compared to $2.582 trillion for France.
"India can become world's fifth largest economy if firm growth continues," Jaitley said in a video address at a National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) event here.
Noting that the economy is in a stable condition, he said there should be added focus on eliminating agrarian distress.
In this connection, the recent move to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers will help eradicate farmer distress that was rampant last year, he said.
The decision to extend the MSP is an enormous step to scale back the plight of farmers within the nation, he said.
"NABARD has played a crucial role in shaping the agrarian sector."
The NDA government is paying particular attention in improving the country's rural infrastructure, he added.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
