'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
The Union government could target a fiscal deficit of 5.8-6 per cent of nominal GDP for 2023-24, and it should continue its capital expenditure push and look to simplify the personal income tax regime, economists recommended Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team during their pre-Budget interaction on Monday. Starting last week, Sitharaman had eight pre-Budget consultations this time. More than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in these meetings, the finance ministry said in a statement. The stakeholder groups included representatives and experts from agriculture and agro-processing industry; industry, infrastructure & climate change; financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; social sector; trade unions and labour organisations; and economists.
'China can't stop any company from relocating to India.'
'The next fiscal year will be a good one.'
'If the RBI reduces the rate of interest, housing demand can pick up, investment can pick up, automobile demand can pick up...'
'We do not want people who are air dropped and who fly out once the job is done.' 'Ever since liberalisation started, we keep on hearing that it's going to be jobless growth.' 'This speaks of the failure of the foreign returned policy makers.' 'When questions are raised, answers should be given and not a resignation.'
'Life will not improve overnight; it will happen in a gradual manner.'
'The so-called economic reforms are for the rich.' 'The government should not facilitate and entertain this kind of lust for land by the capitalists.'
'Everybody was ready to agree with the government if the process to acquire land was a judicious one. All of us want industrialisation and development of the country.'
'If credit is not available, people will postpone buying. That's what has happened.'
'Some of the policies NITI Aayog has taken, we feel lean towards the corporates.' 'In a democracy, when you are making a policy decision, you are expected to take the views of all the stakeholders.'
'National assets, created over the years through tax-payers's money, should not be handed over to business houses at throwaway prices.'
'I will be happy if walls are built between India and China!' 'We are going to nooks and corners of the country to make ordinary people realise the need to buy Indian goods so that our workers get jobs.'
'We are allowing FDI on the terms of the investors, multinationals.' 'We bow down to whatever they say.' 'When they say you open this sector, we open that sector.'
'Is this the only way for India to become a $5 trillion economy?' 'When you have unused foreign exchange here, why borrow more dollars?'
Modi government is pushing GM food crops without adequate safety assessment and transparency, claim activists.
In the second and concluding part of his interview, Gurumurthy outlines the two areas he believes the government should focus on.
Dr Ashwani Mahajan, all India co-convenor of the Swadesh Jaagran Manch and an associate professor at the Delhi University, discusses the state of the Indian economy in an interview with Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
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