Prasad cites earning by movies to rule out economic slowdown
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday dismissed that there is an economic slowdown in the country, citing the fact that three films collectively earned ₹120 crore on October 2. “It is because the economy is sound that films are earning so much revenue in a single day on a holiday,” the Union minister for law and justice, communications, electronics and information technology said in Mumbai.
Naming the three films — War, Joker, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy — Prasad said, “I have been the information and broadcasting minister before, and have a fondness for movies, so I have followed this.”
He also said the employee provident fund has received 2.54 crore new registrations between September 2017 and June 2019, over a crore people are directly employed in the IT industry, and another 50 lakh are indirectly employed. “If roads are being made, the Metros are being constructed, then employment is being generated,” he said.
Responding to a question about the National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) 2018 report on unemployment in the country, Prasad said, “That report is wrong. I gave you so many figures that are proof of employment in the country, and none of those figures are there in the report. Some people tried to mislead via the report.” The NSSO report was never released under the BJP-led government, but was later allegedly leaked. It cited unemployment rate in India at a 45-year-high.
Speaking about the Centre’s decision to abolish article 370, Prasad referred to Shiv Sena founder, the late Bal Thackeray, and said, “There is a visionary leader in Mumbai who said article 370 was problematic long ago.”
Meanwhile, the Congress hit out at the government claiming the economy has moved from “recession to crisis mode”. Addressing the media in New Delhi, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, said, “Instead of addressing the grim situation confronting the economy, she [finance minister] is allowing promotion of crony-capitalism and tax cuts to the rich.”