GDP number is not a certificate of prosperity, says DCM Dr Parameshwara

BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Friday said the Union Government is once again celebrating a high GDP growth number as if it is proof that every Indian is becoming prosperous. “But the people of India deserve to ask a simple question: If the economy is growing so rapidly, why are good jobs, higher incomes and economic security still out of reach for so many?” the Deputy CM said.

“India does not merely need a higher GDP. India needs higher incomes, better jobs, stronger exports, competitive manufacturing and economic security. India needs growth that reaches every household. This is not about whether India is growing. India is growing. The real question is, are we growing fast enough, inclusively enough and sustainably enough to secure the future of our people?” he said.

Dr Parameshewara said the government has recently changed the GDP base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23, along with significant changes in methodology, data sources and estimation techniques. “At the same time, the government is highlighting exceptionally high growth rates without adequately acknowledging the Covid-19 shock and the unusually low base created by the pandemic-induced contraction.

When an economy falls sharply in one year, subsequent growth from that depressed base can naturally produce a much larger headline percentage. The people therefore deserve to know not just how fast GDP is growing today, but how much of that growth is a genuine expansion of economic activity and how much is a statistical and base-effect phenomenon,” he added.

The Congress leader said that a GDP number is not a certificate of prosperity. India’s per-capita income remains remarkably low for a country that claims to be one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, he said.

“The government cannot ask citizens to celebrate a GDP number while avoiding the harder questions of employment, wages, inequality, per-capita income, manufacturing, exports and household prosperity. India’s young population is our greatest strength. But if millions of educated young Indians are unable to find productive and dignified employment, our demographic dividend can become a demographic challenge. The answer is not to manipulate perceptions with statistics. The answer is to strengthen the real economy,” he said.

India’s economy must now be saved from the politics of statistics and brought back to the economics of people, the Deputy CM added.