DEMONETISATION WAS NOT REQUIRED: MANMOHAN
CHANDIGARH: Terming the move of Narendra Modi government to initiate demonetisation as an “unnecessary adventure”, former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday said the move was not successful in any civilised country, except some Latin American and African nations.
Speaking at the Indian School of Business (ISB) Leadership Summit at Mohali, Manmohan told gathering that demonetization was not required at all.
“I don’t think it was technically and economically necessary to launch this adventure. If 86% of country currency is withdrawn from the system than there is bound to be a fall-out,’’ he added.
The former Prime Minister said authoritarian responses cannot solve the real problems of people or make life worth living. “Promotion of scientific temper, respect for dissent and a society governed by the rule of law are an integral part of the value system of a democratic polity,” he said.
Dr Singh whose forecast on decline in country’s gross domestic product (GDP), made in the wake of demonetization, turned out to be true, said on Friday that economy has slowed down due to demonetization as well as glitches in the implementation of the Goods and Service tax (GST) regime.
“In the last quarter of 2016-17, the growth rate of GDP was 6.1% compared to 5.7% in the first quarter of 2017-18,” he said, adding that we must grow at 7-8% to resolve our development issues.
He added that as a democratic nation, we do face internal challenges for a variety of reasons. “The particular advantage of democracy lies in its ability to handle such situations with maturity. Our experiences have showed that democratic methods yield the most enduring solutions to most problems,’’ he said.
Quoting Nobel winning scientist, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the former Prime Minister said that if India has to solve its development problems of poverty, ignorance, unemployment, it has to lay more emphasis on science and innovation.