Tag Archives: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Delhi is not safe, I am going back to Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee

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A day after she along with her state finance minister Amit Mitra were heckled by Left student activists outside the Planning Commission office in New Delhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the national capital “is not safe.”

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Banerjee, who will be flying back to Kolkata this afternoon, said Delhi is unsafe and that she “was manhandled like anything.

Alleging that the police did not co-operate with her, Banerjee said: “I think this is the first time such a thing has happened in New Delhi. I was also manhandled like anything. I requested the police to open the doors but they said that they don’t have the keys.

She further said she was advised by doctors to get hospitalised but she did not want to be hospitalised.

“I was given oxygen whole night on Tuesday, the doctor advised me to get hospitalised, but I don’t like to get hospitalised,” she added.

She also lashed out at the CPM for the attack on her and her Finance Minister.

“Our cadre are peaceful, all ruckus was created by the CPM. It’s a double standard game of CPM, they are hypocrites,” she said

She also apologised to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for cancelling her meeting with him

Meanwhile, the TMC held a protest at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the heckling of Banerjee and Mitra.

The TMC workers are also staging rallies, holding protests in Kolkata and other parts of the state in condemnation of the incident

Banerjee and Mitra were heckled outside the Planning Commission office in the national capital by the SFI activists protesting a young comrade’s death in Kolkata allegedly in police custody.

Dozens of protestors from the SFI waited for the TMC leaders outside the Planning Commission office and raised slogans against Banerjee when she came with Mitra and other ministers to meet the commission’s Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Sudipto, an MA student at Rabindra Bharati University, was among the hundreds of members of the SFI who were protesting against the government for postponing college union elections. They were arrested and put on a bus that was meant to take them to jail. According to the students, the SFI leader succumbed to injuries in baton charge by the police.

The police, however, claims that students were leaning out of the bus, shouting slogans, and that in the chaos, Gupta hit his head on an electricity pole as he was getting out of the bus.

Slowdown Over, Growth Recovery in 6 Months: Montek

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The economy will turn the corner in the next six months as the deceleration of the past several quarters has been arrested, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

“It is our hope that in the second half of the year, which has begun just now, many of the measures taken by the government in the recent past to revive investor confidence will lead to a turnaround setting in in the second half,” Ahluwalia said while addressing a banking summit organised here by Yes Bank and Financial Times.

Confident of better GDP numbers in the second half, Montek said, “In the first six months of the current year, GDP growth is around 5.5percent… And I think the second half will be better. Somewhere around 65 is a reasonable basis to start working from. It could be a little better, it could be a little worse.”

Basing his optimism to the pick up in the August IIP numbers as also in the recent PMI surveys, Ahluwalia said there are signals of an up-tick.

“We have two signals already, the industrial production index appears to have gone up a little in August and PMI is doing a little bit better.

“I am using that as a touchstone… The government is back in action. Therefore I am willing to interpret the slight up-tick in the industrial production index as an example of deceleration having been arrested. I am not actually saying that resurgence has begun, but what we have done [policy actions] the impact will be delayed,” Ahluwalia said.

After languishing for many months, the factory output numbers for August showed growth at 2.7 percent, but the April-August IIP remains almost flat at 0.4 percent against 5.6 percent in the year ago period.

The IIP readings were low due to the poor show by the manufacturing sector and contraction in capital goods output.

Partly blaming the coalition pressures on the policy delays, Ahluwalia said, “We took time taking the reform measures because of the pressures of coalition, there was a consultative process to be carried.”

He also said the slowdown is not primarily due to global slowdown. “Our analysis is that the slowdown is not because of international factors, our perception is that there are many domestic concerns such as procedural and implementation issues, especially in case of large infra projects.”

Stating that the growth deceleration being witnessed for the past several quarters has certainly ended, he said, however, that it is still too early to say whether it’s actually a turn-around, although the government has taken a number of steps to boost investor confidence.

“It is reasonable to say that the slowdown has certainly ended but we are yet to see how strong this recovery is going to be,” Ahluwalia told the summit.

On the latest inflation numbers, which inched up to 7.81% in September, up from 7.55 percent in the previous month on higher diesel prices, he said it’s better than last year but still not at our comfort level of 5-6 percent.

“You can’t say that the economy is overheated. Inflation is above the comfort level. There is no question about it… but it is a lot better than last year. I think the government has taken a number of steps which give us more fiscal room than we had before… We have seen a lot of positive action. We will be able to take inflation to more moderate levels,” Ahluwalia said.

Source: PTI

Montek Meets PM Amid Controversy Over Poverty Data

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Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday amid controversy over the panel’s affidavit in the Supreme Court defining poverty line cut-offs which have triggered strong opposition from food rights activists.

Ahluwalia is expected to clear the stance of planning commission on the issue at a press conference Monday.

Montek Meets PM Amid Controversy Over Poverty Data

Sources said Ahluwalia, who was on a visit abroad, met the prime minister for the first time since the controversy erupted after an affidavit filed by the panel in Supreme Court last month.

The affidavit said that poverty line for urban and rural areas could be provisionally placed at 965 per capita per month (about 32 per day) for urban areas and 781 per capita per month (about 26 per day) for rural areas.

Apart from food rights activists, opposition parties had also slammed the government over the affidavit.

The number of poor entitled to below poverty line (BPL) benefits, as per the affidavit, has been estimated at 40.74 crore.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is also learnt to have expressed his concern over the poverty line cut offs.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni admitted Saturday that there was concern among people on the issue.

She said the figures could undergo a change. “There is a certain disquiet in the civil society and some sections. They believe the statistics are perhaps somewhat removed from reality,” she said.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had sent a missive to the panel on the issue.

National Advisory Council members Aruna Roy and N.C. Saxena also expressed reservations over the poverty line cut offs.

Saxena said that only dogs and animals can live at 32 a day and said that people spending that kind of amount were poorest of the poor.

Following the uproar, Ahluwalia said that the affidavit was “factually correct” and it was not a new policy decision but simply a factual explanation given to the apex court on how poverty lines were calculated based on Suresh Tendulkar report.

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