BJP on GDP: UPA has converted 'full glass of milk' into half

Panaji (Goa), June 8 (ANI): A day before its National Executive announces its political and economic resolutions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday accused the UPA Government of reducing the country's growth rate by half during its nearly decade-long stint in power.

Comparing the achievements of the previous NDA regime (1998-2004) to that of the UPA (2004-2013), party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: "We gave Manmohan Singh a full glass of milk, and now, that glass is half. Hence, it won't be unfair to say that the UPA has lapsed. The Congress promised to eradicate the price rise in 100 days, and they have failed."

"It is a crisis of credibility. The Congress, for the past nine years, has not been upto the mark. It has given birth to the crisis," claimed Javadekar.

"The government's own men do not trust the government. The people don't trust them and their own allies have lost faith in them. All that the Congress has gifted the people is a hike in prices, unemployment, corruption and many other problems," added Javadekar.

"The NDA government in 2004 gave the Congress a growth rate of 8.4 per cent and they have brought it down to 4.8 percent," Javadekar added.

The economy of India is the tenth-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country is one of the G-20 major economies and a member of BRICS.

On a per-capita-income basis, India ranked 141st by nominal GDP and 130th by GDP (PPP) in 2012, according to the IMF. India is the 19th-largest exporter and the 10th-largest importer in the world.

Economic growth rate slowed to around 5.0 percent for the 2012-13 fiscal year compared with 6.2 percent in the previous fiscal.

It is to be noted that India's GDP grew by an astounding 9.3 percent in 2010-11. Thus, the growth rate has nearly halved in just three years. GDP growth went up marginally to 4.8 percent during the quarter through March 2013, from about 4.7 percent in the previous quarter. The government has forecasted a growth of 6.1 percent to 6.7 percent for the year 2013-14, whilst the RBI expects it to be 5.7 percent. (ANI)