‘False narrative’: FM hits back on cronyism charge

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the Union Budget 2021-22 aims to attain sustainable growth for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (a self-reliant India) with enhanced allocations to key sectors and focus on uplifting the poor, but the Opposition was spreading a “false narrative” that the government was working for the rich.

Speaking on the budget in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman said it was drawn from the experience of PM Narendra Modi, known for his commitment to development, growth and reform, and it was through these three things that Aatmanirbhar Bharat would be attained.

Citing global recognition to India’s handling of the Covid-19

NEW DELHI:

Retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), grew at 4.1% in January 2021, in keeping with trend of moderating prices since November 2020. Industrial production, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew at 1% in December 2020, a relief compared to the November

NEW DELHI:

pandemic, she said: “False narratives were created... There is a lot of grudge in the speech of the former finance minister [referring to Congress leader P Chidambaram]... not to recognise numbers when it contracted by 2.1% on an annual basis.

These statistics, released on Friday, paint a mixed picture for the economy. While inflation will not be a worry for monetary policy considerations in the short-run, disproportionate fall in food prices could affect rural demand via the terms of trade route at a time when the non-farm economy is still in early stages of recovery, experts said.

how honourable Prime Minister handled the corona crisis. Today the entire world is seeing how we in India have had less deaths per million, we in India have less active cases...”