Parliament: High Inflation During 10 Years of UPA Govt was 'Andhakaal', Says FM
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed the double-digit inflation and the several scams during the two terms of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as 'Andhakaal' while speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, 10 February. Sitharaman was replying to the opposition's criticism on the Union Budget 2022. She will also address the Rajya Sabha at 10 am on Friday, 11 February.
Meanwhile, members of Congress, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) staged a walkout during Sitharaman's reply to MPs' questions on the Union Budget 2022 in the Lok Sabha.
"Congress does not have the patience to sit in the House and face the truth. Instead, they run away," the minister said.
Several opposition MPs have raised the issue of unemployment multiple times during the ongoing budget session. The MPs have claimed that Union Budget 2022 did not provide much to deal with the issue in the country in the wake of COVID-19.
On Tuesday as well, Congress, DMK, as well as other opposition parties staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha amid the Hijab row.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, while addressing the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, had trained guns at the Congress and said: "India's democracy is not a favour done to the nation by the Congress, democracy and debate have always been a part of India."
The Budget Session of Parliament began on 31 January with the president's address
Due to the prevailing COVID-19 outbreak, the Rajya Sabha will sit from 10 am to 3 pm, and the Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm.
The first leg of the Budget Session will end on 11 February. The second leg of the session is scheduled from 14 March to 8 April. Standing committees will evaluate the budgetary allocations in the recess
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Double-Digit Inflation During Ten Years of UPA was 'Andhakaal', Says FM Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied to the opposition's criticism on the Union Budget 2022 in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and called the double-digit inflation and the several scams under the UPA government as the true 'Andhakaal' in the country.
"Double-digit inflation during the ten years of UPA, particulary in UPA-2 was 'Andhakaal'. The Coal scam and then every day there were headlines about the 2G scam. The country did not know what was happening. That was 'Andhakaal'. Not knowing what to do after the global financial crisis, that was 'Andhakaal'," she said.
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"Every village has been electrified in India. 'Andhakaal' (time of darkness) prevailed during their (Congress) rule, whereas now every house has got electricity in every village," she added.
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"In 2008, Indian GDP took a hit of 2.21 lakh crores in terms of reduced gains. In the recent crisis, Indian GDP lost 9.57 lakh crore. Despite disruption to the supply chain, inflation in 2020-21 was 6.2 percent, whereas in 2008-09, it was 9.1 per cent," she said.
"It means that despite the contraction in GDP and much larger loss to GDP we managed to keep the inflation lower than when India suffered a smaller crisis in 2008," Nirmala Sitharaman added.
"Consumer Price Index contracted only 6.2%, despite intense crisis and reduction in GDP. 80.1 billion FDI inflows have taken place in our government. Earlier, during the UPA regime in 2008-09, FDI inflow was 8.3 billion," she said.
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