Zero marks to Modi govt on job creation, economy a worry: Chidambaram

New Delhi: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today gave zero marks to the Modi government on the issue of job creation, faulted it for not carrying out major reforms despite adequate numbers in the Lok Sabha and spoke of worrying signs in the economy.[caption id=“attachment_2261652” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former finance minister P Chidambaram. PTI[/caption] The senior Congress leader also took a jibe at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying tax terrorism coined by him has “come to haunt him” now in the backdrop of tax notices to FIIs regarding Minimum Alternate Tax. Seeking to puncture the celebratory mood of the Narendra Modi dispensation over completing one year in office, Chidambaram suggested that the tenure so far was a missed opportunity as it failed to carry out reforms despite the ruling BJP securing majority on its own. “Why did you put Direct Taxes Code on the backburner. Why did you ditch the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), why are you not implementing the legislative proposals of Financial Sector Legislation Reforms Commission. These are completely puzzling. These are absolutely necessary. Why have all of these been put on the backburner when you have 282 members in the Lok Sabha,” he said. He warned that investors will not come if growth in credit and demand do not pick up and private projects remained stalled. Expressing his concern over the state of the economy, he said : “When the credit growth is lowest in many years, when aggregate demand is sluggish, when 585 private sector projects are stalled, How will an investor come in?….” “I do not see any creation of jobs….What has one year brought in terms of jobs. In terms of jobs, I will give this government zero,” he said adding farmers in general and agriculture experts like Ashok Gulati too would give this government a zero rating. Taking a dig, he said “but if you will ask a big industrialist who was promised Rs 5,000 crore from State Bank of India, he will of course give 10 out of 10”. Chidambaram accused the government of not passing on the full benefits of drop in international crude oil prices to consumers, claiming the government has made a windfall of about Rs 50,000 crore. He said that the petrol and diesel should have been selling at least Rs 15 less per litre if the government had passed on the entire benefit. On the issue of inflation, he said still some pulses and vegetables are costly. He attributed the drop in inflation mainly to the decline in international crude oil prices. Dismissing BJP’s charge that the UPA had practised crony capitalism, Chidambaram said that a record growth rate of 8.5 percent would not have been possible if the allegations were correct. He said the UPA achieved the record growth by ensuring high credit and demand growth and ensuring that conditions are created for investment. Chidambaram also said that the Vodafone tax dispute could have been resolved by this government by merely inserting a clause in the Finance Bill, which is a money bill, which does not require support from the Rajya Sabha. Regarding the recent survey on one year performance of Modi government, Chidambaram said, “Undoubtedly all surveys shows that the level of support they enjoyed in May 2014 has declined sharply by May 2015. “Why, (because) people are beginning to recognise that much of the ‘acche din’ (good days) was only a ‘chunavi jumla’"(election gimmick). PTI