Five remedial measures can reverse the current slowdown, which is both structural and cyclic mainly because of the demonetisation debacle and faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, former Prime Minister and economist Manmohan Singh said in an interview to a daily publication.
The very first step before implementing the five reform measures is to accept that the country is facing an economic crisis, he said in an interview Dainik Bhaskar, conducted in Hindi. The government must listen to experts and all stakeholders with open mind, he said adding that he does not see any focused approach by the Modi government on this matter.
“The Modi government should come out of the habit of headline management. Already a lot of time is wasted. Instead of making sectoral announcements, efforts should be made now to simultaneously take forward the entire economic framework,” he said suggesting five measures to put the economy on a high growth trajectory.
First, GST should be made “logical” even though this would mean a revenue loss for a brief time. Second, devise new ways to both, revive the agriculture and boost rural consumption. “The Congress manifesto mentions ‘concrete alternatives’, wherein money could reach in the hands of people by freeing agricultural markets,” he said.
