Modi govt's policies failed to revive economy: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): Asserting that the Centre's policies have "failed" to revive the economy, the Congress on Thursday said the government's strategy of cutting corporate taxes, giving "generous corporate handouts" and raising the tax burden on the salaried middle class has only helped enrich large monopolies without any discernible increase in investment or hiring.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said what is needed for stimulating demand is tax cuts for the salaried middle classes and income support to the poor.
His remarks came over a media report which claimed that the sharp slump in economic growth rate to 5.4 per cent in July-September this year has sparked concerns among policy makers that low single-digit income growth in the corporate sector despite four times growth in profits over the last four years, is one of the reasons behind the slowing of demand.
In a post on X, Ramesh said, "Private sector profit is at a 15-year-high and has grown four times over the last four years. But salaries are stagnant, having grown annually at rates between 0.8% and 5.4% across sectors."
The CEA has sagely suggested that India Inc needs to look within and that "there has to be better balance between the share of income going to capital as profits and that going to workers as wages", Ramesh said.
If only the Government had not cut corporate taxes steeply in 2019, some of that balancing could have been achieved through policy itself, he said.
"The writing on the wall is clear: the Government's strategy of cutting corporate taxes, giving generous corporate handouts through PLIs, and raising the tax burden on the salaried middle class has only helped enrich large monopolies without any discernible increase in investment or hiring," Ramesh said.
These policies have failed to revive the economy, he claimed.
"What we need to stimulate demand is tax cuts for the salaried middle classes and income support to the poor," Ramesh said.
The Congress has been accusing the government of mishandling the economy and criticising it over rising prices, unemployment and "stagnant incomes".
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.
Gadkari on accidents: 'I try to hide my face in meetings abroad'
New Delhi (PTI): "When I go to attend international conferences where there is a discussion on road accidents, I try to hide my face," Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, underlining he had set a target to reduce accidents by 50 per cent when he first took charge as the Road Transport and Highways Minister.
During a discussion on road accidents in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Gadkari said, "Forget about reducing the number of accidents, I have no hesitation to admit that it has been increased. When I go to attend international conferences where there is a discussion on road accidents, I try to hide my face."
He was replying to a supplementary during the Question Hour.
The minister said that for things to improve human behaviour in India has to change, society has to change and rule of law has to be respected.
Gadkari said he and his family met with a major accident some years ago and he needed to be hospitalised for a long time. "By the grace of God, I and my family were saved. So I have my personal experience of accidents."
He said parking of trucks on road is a major cause for accidents and many of the trucks don't follow lane discipline.
He said he has ordered for following international standards in making bus body in India. There has to be a hammer near a bus window so that it can be broken easily in case of accidents, he said.
Earlier, Gadkari said road accidents claim 1.78 lakh lives annually in the country and 60 per cent of the victims are in the age group of 18-34 years.
He said while Uttar Pradesh leads the chart among states, Delhi tops the list for cities. In UP, over 23,000 people (or 13.7 per cent of the total deaths due to road accidents) died, followed by Tamil Nadu with over 18,000 (10.6 per cent) deaths.
In Maharashtra, the figure stands at over 15,000 (or nine per cent of the total deaths), followed by Madhya Pradesh with over 13,000 (eight per cent) deaths.
Delhi leads the city chart with over 1,400 deaths, followed by Bengaluru with 915 deaths. Jaipur registers 850 deaths due to road accidents.
