Kolkata, Apr 19 (PTI) TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar Tuesday said West Bengal’s ruling party “strongly feels” that the BJP-led central government was “fuelling” inflation, instead of controlling it, due to its handling of the economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. He said the TMC also took exception to the Centre’s economic policies that “keep enriching a small class” and the continued conflagration by increasing petrol and diesel prices.
“The economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis could have been planned and handled better, instead of mechanically loading every increase of crude oil cost on diesel and petrol,” the former CEO of Prasar Bharati told PTI over phone.
“This is like feeding fat into the fire, instead of dousing it. Diesel is the lifeblood of transport and consequently, all costs go up as a chain reaction,” he said.
Sircar said the food inflation (based on the Wholesale Price Index) is higher at a record 14 per cent over last year, while retail inflation (based on the Consumer Price Index) is over the upper barrier of 6 per cent, which “makes a mockery of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), for the second time since June 2021”.
The RBI’s rate-setting panel, in its first MPC meeting this fiscal, had kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance despite rising inflation.
The Union government’s alleged mismanagement has resulted in an “all-time record” fiscal deficit of over Rs 16.6 lakh crore in 2021-22, and it will only increase inflation and India’s international ranking as a destination for foreign investment will fall sharply, he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP also said the total public debt is at a “dangerous level” of 60 per cent of the entire annual national wealth – the GDP.
“This is simply exceedingly bad financial management, and the merciless sale of national assets to people favourable to the regime is bad politics and worse economics. The example of neighbouring Sri Lanka’s unmanageable economy should wake us up,” Sircar added. PTI RBT NN NN