Disinformation can't replace diplomacy: Manmohan tells Modi about China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be mindful of the implication of his words and not allow China to misuse them, said former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, referring to the military clash between the two countries in Ladakh.
"We stand at historic crossroads, our government's decisions and action will have serious bearings on how the future generations perceive us. Those who lead us bear the weight of solemn responsibility. In our democracy that responsibility rests with the office of the Prime Minister," Manmohan said in a statement.
"This is a moment where we must stand together as a nation and be united in our response to this brazen threat. We remind the government that disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy or decisive leadership. The truth cannot be suppressed by having pliant allies spout comforting but false statements," said Singh, referring the controversy over Modi's comments at an all-party meeting on Friday.
He added that China is brazenly and illegally seeking to claim parts of Indian territory such as the Galwan valley and Pangong Tso Lake by committing multiple incursions. " The Prime Minister cannot allow them to use his words as a vindication of their position and must ensure that all organs of the government work together to tackle this crisis and prevent it from escalating further," the former PM said.
modi, all-party meet“The Army has been given the freedom to take necessary steps. India has also conveyed its position clearly to China through diplomatic means,” said Narendra Modi
He urged the prime minister to ensure justice for Col Santosh Babu, who was killed in the violent faceoff with the Chinese in the Galwan valley and said, "to do any less will be a historic betrayal of the people's faith."
The statement comes a day after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the PM saying "Narendra Modi is actually Surender Modi". Gandhi's dig at the prime minister came in a tweet wherein he tagged an article in a foreign publication with the headline "India's appeasement policy toward China unravels".
"Narendra Modi is actually Surender Modi," he tweeted.
The Congress leader on Saturday accused Modi of having "surrendered" Indian territory to Chinese aggression, after his remark that neither is anyone inside India's territory nor has anyone captured its posts, made at an all-party meeting.
Twenty Indian Army personnel were killed in a brutal attack by the Chinese military in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley on June 15.

Best of BS Opinion: Rocky road for highways, India's census, and more

Policies to halt the economic slowdown are contingent on recognising the problem first, former prime minister ManmohanSingh said on Wednesday. By that yardstick, there’s little hope. The Budget contained no hint of the S-word and the looming crisis in the telecom industry over paying adjusted gross revenue dues is unlikely to help, nor will growing tax terrorism, the slowing momentum in road construction nor even the anticipated dislocation caused by the impending National Population Register exercise. All these topics have been discussed on the opinion page today. Kanika Datta sums up the views.
The tax department is now sending notices to directors of private limited companies, holding them liable for pending dues and demanding payment in 10-15 days.
The consequences of that old, old problem of scrambling to meet unrealistic tax targets rears its head again and, more than anything else, vitiates the investment climate, says the top edit here
The second edit discusses the mounting financing problems that are causing the road construction programme – one of the undoubted achievements of the Modi government’s first term – to lose momentum. Read here
Aakar Patel explains here how the National Population Register enumeration exercise is likely to hit data collection for the all important decadal census exercise.
Plans to list government bonds in global debt benchmarks is arguably India’s best bet to attract the relatively passive and sticky part of global capital. But opening up a limited number of ‘special securities’ to free access for foreign portfolio investors means it will take a few years before India can lean on index-driven flows to finance a significant portion of the government’s budget, says Sameer Goel of Deutsche Bank. Read his analysis here

Oppn slams govt over slowdown, Manmohan says 'precarious state of economy'

Former prime minister ManmohanSingh on Friday said the fundamental reason for the “precarious state of” the Indian economy was the “even more worrisome” state of India’s society.
Speaking at an ‘economic conclave’ organised by think tanks associated with the Congress, Singh urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “set aside his deep rooted suspicion” of India’s society and “nurse” it back to a “harmonious, confident and mutually trustworthy society that can revive the animal spirits and help our economy soar.”

Singh said, the GDP figures released earlier today point the growth rate of our economy in the second quarter of current fiscal year, is as low as 4.5 per cent. This is clearly unacceptable and the aspirations of our people want that this country should grow at 8-9 per cent per annum and therefore the sharp decline in growth rate from 5 per cent in the first quarter to 4.5 per cent in the second quarter is indeed worrisome. It is my belief that mere changes in economic policy will not help revive the economy. We need to change the current climate in our society from one of fear to one of confidence for our economy to start growing robustly again at 8 per cent per annum.
The former PM delivered his speech barely an hour after the government released the latest economic data of the last quarter, which leaders of opposition parties pointed to as evidence of the Modi government having abdicated its responsibility towards ensuring economic growth to indulge in diversionary politics.
“Lowest GDP growth in 26 quarters! No answers from the Finance Minister. No wonder full opposition walked out of the Rajya Sabha 40 minutes into the FM’s speech this week. And ministers dozed off in their seats,” Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien tweeted, alluding the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
“Sixth consecutive quarter of falling GDP growth. Lowest quarterly GDP growth since Jan-Mar 2013. Manufacturing sector has contracted! What will it take for our government to acknowledge this crisis? The slowdown is real and deep. Wait for new distractions to be conjured up by the duo,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
Both O’Brien and Ramesh had participated in the Rajya Sabha discussion. “4.5% (GDP)! Some people who made a career by mocking Dr Manmohan Singh ji are now struggling to oversee the economy,” Congress leader Ahmed Patel said.
Singh said India was now a $3 trillion global economic powerhouse driven largely by private enterprise. “It is not a tiny command and control economy that can be bullied and directed at will. Nor can it be managed through colourful headlines and noisy media commentary,” he said.
Bemoaning the discrediting of government data, Singh said that “shooting down messengers of bad news or shutting off economic reports and data is juvenile and does not behoove a rising global economic powerhouse.”
“No amount of subterfuge can hide the performance and analysis of a $3 trillion market economy of 1.2 billion people. Economic participants respond to social and economic incentives, not diktats or coercions or public relations,” he said.
The former PM said the Modi government “with an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and low global oil prices” has a “once-in-a-generation economic opportunity to catapult India to the next phase of economic development and create new jobs for hundreds of millions of our youth.”
Possibly alluding to student protests, Singh reminisced about his days as a student of economics at Cambridge University in the 1950s. He said universities foster an environment that encourages students to pursue the intellectual truth, to be intellectually fearless and honest, lucid in expressing our opinion, being open to argument and dissent. He said universities were a place to meet people of various beliefs and ideas and not be confined in an echo chamber.
Singh said his teachers taught him how economic growth and development are shaped by the societies in which they operate. “One cannot separate society from the economy in any nation,” he said. The former PM said, “There is no one today that can deny the sharp slowdown in India’s economy and its disastrous consequences, particularly for farmers, youth and the poor.”
He said it was his belief that mere changes in economic policy alone will not help revive the economy. “We need to change the current climate in our society from one of fear to one of confidence for our economy to start growing robustly again,” he said.
Singh said India’s social fabric of trust and confidence is now torn and ruptured. “There is a palpable climate of fear in our society today,” he said. The former PM said many industrialists have told him that they live in fear of harassment by government authorities.
He said there is profound fear and distrust among India’s various economic participants. “This toxic combination of deep distrust, pervasive fear and a sense of hopelessness in our society is stifling economic activity and hence economic growth,” Singh said.
“The root cause of this is the government’s policy doctrine that seems suspect every industrialist, banker, policy maker, regulator, entrepreneur and citizen. This has halted economic development with bankers unable to lend, industrialists unable to invest and policymakers unable to act.”
“The Modi government seems to view everything and everyone through a tainted prism of suspicion and distrust through which, every policy of previous governments was considered of bad intent, every loan sanctioned was undeserving, every new industrial project was crony in nature and so on,” he said.
Singh said the government has positioned itself as some saviour, resorting to foolhardy moral-policing policies such as demonetisation, that have proved to be disastrous. “For economic growth to revive, it is very important that the government enthuses trust and confidence,” he said.
Singh said this was possible only if the government sheds its current doctrine and begin to trust India’s farmers, India’s entrepreneurs and India’s citizens at large.

4.5% GDP growth rate unacceptable, worrisome: Former PM Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister ManmohanSingh said on Friday the GDP growth rate of 4.5 per cent was unacceptable and worrisome, and urged his successor Narendra Modi to set aside "deep-rooted suspicion" of society and nurse India back to harmonious, mutually trustworthy society that can help the economy soar.
Delivering his valedictory address at a national conclave on economy, Singh said mutual trust is the bedrock of societal transactions fostering economic growth, but "our social fabric of trust, confidence is now torn and ruptured".

He said the "toxic combination of deep distrust, pervasive fear and a sense of hopelessness in our society" is stifling economic activity and growth.

Take CMs' views before changing FinCom's terms of reference, says Manmohan

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the government should have taken chief ministers' views before changing the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission, adding that unilateralism is not good for federal policy and cooperative federalism.
Earlier in July, the Centre changed the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission and mandated the panel to suggest ways for allocation of non-lapsable funds for defence and internal security.

Speaking at an event here, Singh said any change in the panel's terms of reference at the fag-end of its term should have been done in consultation with the states.
"The best course would have been for the Central government that if it wants to tailor the terms of reference, it should be backed by Chief Ministers' Conference, which is now under the auspices of NITI Aayog, otherwise there would be strong feeling that the (Central) government is trying to rob the states of due resource allotment.
"I think that it is not good for the federal polity of our country and cooperative federalism we all swear by these days," Singh said while addressing the 'National Seminar on Additional Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission: Implication for the States'.
"The commission's report goes to the finance ministry and then it goes to the Cabinet and therefore government of the day can take a view that whatever the mandate of the Parliament, the government would abide by that rather than imposing its view unilaterally on the reluctant state commissions," he added.
The government on November 27, 2017 notified the 15th Finance Commission, headed by N K Singh, to suggest the formula for devolution of funds to states by the Centre for five years commencing April 1, 2020, among other issues.
The commission, which has been mandated to use 2011 census data rather than the one of 1971 for resource allocation, was to submit its report by October 30, 2019. The deadline was later extended till November 30, 2019.
"I respectfully request to the authorities to still take this view that they will go by the advice of the Chief Ministers if there is new controversy with regard to additional terms of reference of the commission," the senior Congress leader said.
"I am told once upon a time, the 9th Finance Commission took the view that it will be guided by the Constitutional mandate and will do the fair distribution of taxes, though I don't know that whether this (15th) commission is going to adopt that line of thought. But...internal security as well as defence are subjects which are of great national importance," Singh added.
About the role of the commission, he said, "There are certain basic issues like allocations for health, education and other important subjects, environment protection, where all states have a legitimate interest. What should be done by the government is to evolve a broad national consensus in dealing with all these issues, otherwise there would be bickering and dissatisfaction. This is not good for the federal polity of our country."
He was of the view that cooperative federalism demands give and take and therefore it is very important that the Centre should take the initiative to consult states as often as necessary to carry them along.
"It's rather odd for the government to come up with additional terms of reference. Most of the states have already gone to the commission with their requirement and now you impose another terms of reference on the commission, which would complicate its work. That is certainly not good for the federal polity and cooperative federalism that we desire should flourish in the country," he added.

'All-round mismanagement' by govt slowed down economy, says Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the state of the economy was "deeply worrying" and that "all-round mismanagement" by the Modi government has resulted in this slowdown.
In a statement, he said the last quarter GDP growth rate of 5 per cent signals that "we are in midst of a prolonged slowdown".

The Congress leader said India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate.
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"India cannot afford to continue down this path. Therefore, I urge the government to put aside vendetta politics, and reach out to all sane voices and thinking minds, to steer our economy out of this man-made crisis," he said.
Singh said it is particularly distressing that the manufacturing sector's growth is tottering at 0.6 per cent.
"This makes it very clear that our economy has not yet recovered from the man-made blunders of demonetisation and a hastily implemented GST," he said.
"Investor sentiments are in doldrums. These are not the foundations for economic recovery," he added.

Scars and wounds caused by demonetisation more visible with time: Manmohan

In a scathing assessment of the demonetisation exercise, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the "scars and wounds" it caused are getting more visible with time and the decision's second anniversary is a day to remember how "economic misadventures" can roil the nation.
The senior Congress leader asked the government to not resort to further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that can cause any more uncertainty in the economy.

Describing demonetisation as an "ill-fated" and "ill-thought" exercise, Singh said in a statement that the havoc it unleashed on the Indian economy and society is now evident to everyone.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ban on then in use Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes with immediate effect.
"Notebandi impacted every single person, regardless of age, gender, religion, occupation or creed," Singh said.
"It is often said that time is a great healer. But unfortunately, in the case of demonetisation, the scars and wounds of demonetisation are only getting more visible with time," the former prime minister said.
Beyond the "steep drop" in headline GDP growth numbers after demonetisation, the deeper ramifications of 'notebandi' are still unravelling, he said.
Small and medium businesses that are the cornerstone of India's economy are yet to recover from the demonetisation shock, Singh asserted.
"This has had a direct impact on employment as the economy continues to struggle to create enough new jobs for our youth," he said, adding that the financial markets are volatile as the liquidity crisis wrought by demonetisation is taking its eventual toll on infrastructure lenders and non-bank financial services firms.
In his strong criticism of demonetisation, he said the full impact of the demonetisation exercise is yet to be understood and experienced.
"With a depreciating currency and rising global oil prices, macro-economic headwinds are also starting to blow now.
"It is therefore prudent to not resort to further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that can cause any more uncertainty in the economy and financial markets."
Singh also urged the government to restore certainty and visibility in economic policies.
"Today, is a day to remember how economic misadventures can roil the nation for a long time and understand that economic policy-making should be handled with thought and care," he said.
The Congress has announced that it will hold a nationwide protest on Friday to mark the second anniversary of demonetisation. It has also demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the people for "ruining and wrecking" the economy.
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Thursday said that demonetisation was a "disaster" for the country. The chief minister said she had been describing it as a "dark day" since demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
In another development, On the second anniversary of demonetisation, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Thursday questioned the rationale behind the Modi govt's note ban move and termed it as "a self-inflicted deep wound" on the Indian economy.