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Journalism of Courage
The UPA Government has delivered outstanding growth that has touched every section of society, although high inflation has overshadowed the achievement of ensuring macro-economic stability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.
“On the economic front, in spite of the recent worries on inflation, our record has been a stellar one,” he said at a meeting organised by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in the poll-bound state.
Pointing to economic growth averaging almost nine per cent in the last few years, he said: “This has benefited every section of society and has enabled us to raise the required allocations to social development programmes.”
Under the UPA rule, he noted tax-GDP ratio has risen to almost 10 per cent, while ensuring tax rates remain moderate.
“We have rationalised and reduced tax rates. The middle and lower-middle classes have been major beneficiaries of the income tax concessions in the 2008 Budget. Each one of them has benefited by a few thousand rupees in reduced taxes”, he said.
The Prime Minister said the last four years have seen UPA government putting in place the architecture needed for inclusive growth. In this context, he mentioned the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the National Rural Health Mission, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, Bharat Nirman and Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana.
“All these programmes were never even conceived by the NDA government. Even if they had wanted to, they could not have done so. This is primarily because they could not deliver high economic growth and consequently, could not raise adequate resources,” Singh said.
