HYDERABAD: Finance minister T. Harish Rao on Monday criticised the Narendra Modi-led Centre for the national economy taking a nosedive and faring badly even when compared with countries like Bangladesh.
Speaking to media persons here, the minister, providing hard facts and figures, majority of which have been furnished by the Centre itself, also showcased the seven-year-old Telangana’s rapid stride in economic growth as reflected in buoyancy in all core parameters of gross state domestic product (GDP), per capita income and state’s own tax revenues.
The GDP of Telangana almost doubled from Rs 5.05 lakh crore when it was carved out in 2014-2015 to Rs 9.8 lakh crore against the country's 58 per cent growth in GDP for the corresponding period. The state is the sixth highest contributor to the GDP and even during the Covid pandemic, it registered a positive growth rate of 2.4 per cent against a three per cent negative growth rate of the country's GDP.
Telangana topped among the southern states in achieving the highest per capita annual average growth rate of 11.7 per cent and made its way to the third position in the list of highest per-capita states from the 10th position.
State’s own tax revenues witnessed a 90 per cent increase in the last seven years and touched Rs 66,648 crore from Rs 35,146 crore in the 2014 fiscal. Maintaining that the allegations of state plunging into a debt trap were uncalled for, the minister asserted that the state’s borrowing was always well within the FRBM level of 25 per cent of the GSDP in contrast to several advanced states.
He was reacting sharply to Union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy’s allegation that Telangana state was on the brink of bankruptcy due to financial mismanagement of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. “In an unprecedented manner, KCR showed the world how a fine balance could be achieved between welfare and development. On the other hand, all that the Modi government has achieved so far is spiralling oil prices, cut in gas subsidies and disinvesting the public sector undertakings,” he said in a sarcastic tone.
Harish Rao also apprehended that the Centre would force the states to do away with the subsidy to the farm sector just as happened in the case of gas subsidy. The TRS government got a resolution passed in the Assembly opposing the energy and farm laws which proved detrimental to farmers. There is every possibility of the Centre forcing withdrawal of subsidies to farm power under the guise of energy audit, he said.
