Ravi Shankar Prasad cites success of three films to deny economic slowdown
Mumbai, Oct 12: Indications of slowdown notwithstanding, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said three Bollywood movies generating business of Rs 120 crore on the October 2 holiday suggested the "sound economy" even as he dubbed "wrong" the NSSO report which had reportedly pegged unemployment rate at 45-year high in 2017.
Days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the economic slowdown is more pronounced this year in India and Brazil, Prasad said the measurement was incomplete.
He alleged that some people organised against the government are misleading people over unemployment scenario.
"I was also told that on October 2, which is observed as one of the national holidays, three Hindi movies garnered Rs 120 crore business on that day. Unless the economy is sound in the country how can only three movies collected so much business in a single day?" Prasad asked while speaking to reporters.
He was in Mumbai to campaign for the BJP for the October 21 Maharashtra assembly polls.
The National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labour force survey (PLFS) had stated that unemployment was 45-year low. It had stated that the rate was this high in 1972-73 and 2.2 per cent in 2011-12.
The report had generated a lot of political heat, with the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying the Modi government had promised two crore jobs, but five years later a "leaked job creation report card" has revealed a "national disaster".
Earlier, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar had countered the report saying, "It is not finalised. It is a draft report."
Prasad, who holds Law and Justice, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology portfolios, said, "I have given you ten parameters where economy is performing well, but not a single one is reflected in the (NSSO) report.
Hence I call it a wrong report."
Singling out India and Brazil, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva recently said that 90 per cent of the world is likely to have slower growth in 2019.
When asked to comment on Georgieva's statement, Prasad said, "The measurement of IMF about India is still incomplete.
And do not forget, India was on the 11th position when Manmohan Singh was in power; today it is the fifth largest. We have surpassed even France."
Prasad also sought to dispel the perception that the economy is on the decline, saying, "Electronic manufacturing, Information and Technology sector, Mudra loan, commerce services are performing very well. We never said that we will give government jobs to everyone."
"There are some people who have organised against the government and misleading people over unemployment," he added.
Interestingly, Prasad's comments came at a time when India slipped down by ten positions in the world competitive index report and the government data on Friday revealing that factory output has shrunk by 1.1 per cent in August, which is the poorest performance in seven years due to a sharp decline in production of capital goods and consumer durables.
Commenting on the world competitive index report, the senior BJP leader said, "Look at innovation, start-ups and market size parameters, we are improving. It is true that we have dropped on some other parameters."
India, which was ranked 58th in the annual Global Competitiveness Index compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), is among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil (ranked even lower than India at 71st this year), as per the report.
The Opposition camp has been alleging that the Narendra Modi dispensation has "miserably failed" on the economic front, leading to "growing joblessness".
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Health minister Wes Streeting's resignation piles pressure on UK PM Starmer
London (PTI): UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday, declaring that he had lost confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
As a frontrunner to replace Starmer at 10 Downing Street, Streeting is expected to launch his bid to be elected Labour leader if he can secure the backing of the party's requisite 81 members of Parliament.
It piles further pressure on Starmer, who has been attempting to quell an internal rebellion over the devastating results for the governing party in last week’s local elections.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism," Streeting said in his resignation letter addressed to Starmer.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it,” he said.
The former minister accused his boss of lacking any vision and overseeing a power “vacuum” and also went on to highlight his own record of leading the Department for Health and Social Care and state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Streeting added: “The National Health Service is the embodiment of all that is best about Britain and our values. Thanks to our Labour government, it is on the road to recovery: lots done, but so much more to do.
“These are all good reasons for me to remain in post, but as you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”
His words are being interpreted as paving the way for a Labour leadership contest, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband among his other expected rivals.
While some indications are that this process may not be triggered any time soon, Starmer's future as Labour leader is looking extremely tenuous if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) gets involved in a formal election process.
Meanwhile, Rayner issued a statement earlier to confirm that she had been cleared by the UK tax authorities of any wrongdoing over her financial affairs that had forced her to step down from the Cabinet last year.
"I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC [His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] has accepted this," she said.
This is seen as her declaring her intention to be ready to join the fray, should a Labour leadership election be launched.
The latest turmoil at the top of the British government comes after a series of junior ministerial resignations, with Starmer staying the course by announcing their replacements. Earlier his ally, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, cautioned her colleagues to refrain from plunging the country into chaos and putting the UK’s economic recovery at risk.
“We shouldn’t put that at risk by plunging the country into chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world, but also at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit," she said.
However, the deep divisions within the Labour Party ranks are only expected to escalate further in the coming days and weeks.
