India on upward growth trajectory; country has made leap into era of high economic policy certainty: Arun Jaitley

Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Thursday said Indian economic growth graph was on an upward trajectory after past policy uncertainties have been replaced by certainties. The Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, projected India’s growth to rise to 7 percent in the current fiscal, from five-year low of 6.8 percent in 2018-19. “From the highest level of economic policy uncertainty in 2011-12, India has made leap into the era of high economic policy certainty. The Graph of Indian growth story is on an upward trajectory,” Jaitley tweeted. Jaitley further said Swachh Bharat Mission has been an exceptional programme which has brought behavioural changes in India. “This initiative is now a peoples mission leading to Swasth and Sundar Bharat”. [caption id=“attachment_5242341” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Arun Jaitley. Reuters[/caption] On the other hand, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday termed the government’s view through Economic Survey as pessimistic about the economy. In a statement, he said there are no growth projections sector-wise in the first survey of the new government and the first under the new finance minister. In a statement, the senior Congress leader said the findings of the economic survey 2018-19 were neither positive nor encouraging. “It appears to me that the government, speaking through the economic survey, is pessimistic about the economy,” he said. “I looked for the Outlook for 2019-20. It is in Volume-2, Chapter 01, but there is only a bland statement that growth of the economy expected to be 7 per cent in 2019-20. There are no growth projections sector wise,” he said. According to the Economic Survey, insights from behavioural economics can be strategically utilised to create an aspirational agenda for social change - from BBBP (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao) to BADLAV (Beti Aapki Dhan Lakshmi Aur Vijay Lakshmi); from Swachh Bharat to Sundar Bharat; from ‘Give It Up’ for the LPG subsidy to ‘Think about the Subsidy’ and from tax evasion to tax compliance. With PTI inputs Follow LIVE Updates on Union Budget 2019 here