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The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, pooh-poohed the suggestion that the economic crisis today was as grave as in 1991.
In a presentation to the Congress Working Committee on the economic situation, Mr Mukherjee said, “Such comparisons are not correct” as the foreign exchange reserves of the country were much stronger in 2012 than in 1990.
Addressing the CWC, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said that despite the international slowdown, India's growth remained at 7 per cent in 2011-12, which, according to him, was one of the highest in the world.
“These are difficult times for our country and for our economy, caused to a very large extent by circumstances over which we have little or no control,” Dr Singh said.
Both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister said the government was committed to fighting corruption and that all efforts are being made to bring back black money parked abroad.
States must share oil price hike burden
Even as the Government came in for sharp criticism from the main ruling party, the Congress, for the petrol price hike the Finance Minister said he has written to all Chief Ministers asking them to also bear a part of the burden. About half the pump price of petrol is accounted for by State and Central taxes. “All stakeholders will have to make sacrifices,” the Finance Minister said, adding that a mechanism to deal with the situation will be worked out soon.
The Prime Minister said the oil prices are rising due to tensions with Iran and uncertain prospects in West Asia. “The misinformation being spread by disparate, desperate elements, unified only by their opposition to our government, needs to be tackled effectively,” the Prime Minister added.
Without mentioning the petrol price hike, the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, said certain economic challenges were impacting the common man.
“The whole world is passing through a difficult phase…we have to face it and we are facing it,” she said.
Mr Mukherjee's letter to the Chief Ministers on sharing the petrol price hike burden comes just days after Opposition parties took to the streets demanding a roll-back of fuel price hikes, the frequent increase in the petrol prices, particularly after the de-regularisation of petrol prices.
According to sources, at the Congress Working Committee meeting more than a dozen leaders, starting from the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, Mr Ramesh Chennithala, demanded that the decision to de-regularise petrol prices should be immediately withdrawn.
He is also learnt to have urged the UPA Government to stop the companies from increasing the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene. A majority of the speakers who followed him echoed similar sentiments.
“A number of speakers reflected his views,” a Congress source admitted.
The meeting authorised Ms Sonia Gandhi to select the party's candidate for the posts of the upcoming elections for the country's President and Vice-President.
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