Maharashtra had to face worst effects of economic crisis, says former PM Manmohan Singh
Mumbai, Oct 17: Conceding that there were some "weaknesses" in his regime, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said here on Thursday that the Narendra Modi government should stop blaming the UPA for every economic crisis, as five years was sufficient time to come up with solutions.
Addressing a press conference ahead of Maharashtra elections, he was replying to a question on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comments in the US, where she said the banking sector passed through its worst phase during the tenures of Singh and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.
The NDA government should have learnt from the UPA's "mistakes", and provided "credible solutions", Singh said.
Had the NDA government learnt from the mistakes, fraud-accused jeweler Nirav Modi and other loan defaulters would not have fled with public money, or the banks' situation would not have gone from "bad to worse", Singh said.
"You cannot claim year after year that the fault lies with the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), you have been in office for five and half years and that is long enough period for a government committed to public welfare to do some credible things. Merely passing the buck to UPA regime is no solution to India's problems," the former PM said.
Talking about his tenure as prime minister between 2004-14, Singh said, "What happened did happen. There were some weaknesses.
"But this government has been in office for five and half years, it should have learnt from our mistakes and provided credible solutions to those problems which are still affecting our economy," he said.
"You may score some brownie points, but you are not finding solutions to the problems of the suffering humanity of our country," Singh added.
Earlier, he said, "Before one can fix the economy, one needs a correct diagnosis of its ailments. The government is obsessed about somehow trying to fix blame on the opponents, in the process it is unable to find the solutions that will ensure revival of the economy."
Singh said India is in a "vicious slowdown" and pegged the only "feasible" rate of growth that can be achieved now at 5.5-6 per cent, much below the 8-10 per cent essential to address India's needs.
Welcoming the corporate tax cuts, the economist-turned -politician said the problem right now is lack of demand and suggested a cut in indirect taxes to address the issue.
He blamed the Modi government for "deterioration in economic climate" of the country, adding that "double engine model" of governance has failed.
Singh said the government's apathy and incapability are affecting the future and aspirations of millions in the midst of the slowdown.
With the growth rate declining year after year, there is no hope for the economy to reach USD 5 trillion by 2024, as promised by the government, he said.
"This government believes in headline management and not concrete solutions, that is the problem," he said.
He also said the "obsession" with managing inflation has led to various troubles in the farm sector, and added that Maharashtra has become the suicide capital of the country.
Maharashtra and Mumbai have borne the brunt of the industrial slowdown, he said, and added that unfortunately the BJP governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra have been unwilling to take up people-oriented policies.
"The manufacturing growth rate of Maharashtra is declining for four consecutive years. I was told of gloom prevailing in Pune, India's largest auto-manufacturing hub. A similar gloom prevails in other parts of Maharashtra also," he said.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
