Revamp of official statistics by govt is alarming, says Singhvi

Highlighting the slump in the economy, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said here on Sunday that government's "proposal to revamp the official statistics" is alarming as it will lead to a hurdle in intergenerational comparison of growth rates and of other parameters.

He said that the government is thinking of revisiting the official statistics and argued that unorgsed sectors were not included.

He said that, government's proposed plan shows that the Centre did not have any clue to control the distress economy.

"Reports today and in recent reports in past, the government has said that revamp of official statistics is being done or thought of because they believe unorgsed sector is not looked at. I request the government to not to do something that you cannot do an intergenerational comparison, please don't artificially boost your 4.9 per cent official growth rate, which your former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) said is close to 2-2.5 per cent less than what is projected," said Singhvi while addressing press conference here on Sunday.

"Government does not have a clue how to control this runaway horse of distress economy," he said.

Citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data Singhvi said that 36 persons committed suicide per day due to unemployment. He said that figures for suicide due to unemployment are more than that of farmer's suicide.

Singhvi alleged that slow growth in the Industrial sector is covered up by "Jumla" of Make in India.

"In the Solar Power plant, one of the important components is the photovoltaic cell. In the PVC, 85 per cent of the material is imported from China, Vietnam and Malaysia. After 2014, Rs 90000 crore is the import bill which is more than direct FDI and import in other sectors. It is more than 6 times the budget of renewable energy from 2014-19," he said.

"The slow Industrial growth rate is covered by 'Jumlas' like 'Make in India'," said Singhvi.

( With inputs from ANI )