Admitting the slowdown in growth rate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday sought to pin the blame of his Government’s alleged policy paralysis on CAG and CVC whose fear he reasoned was the factor behind clearances not being granted to infrastructure projects.
“We agree that there are certain domestic reasons responsible for the slowdown in our growth rate. Infrastructure projects do not get expeditious clearances. Bureaucrats are hesitant to take decisions fearing that CVC and CAG will raise questions over their decisions,” he said addressing the AICC session. He was apparently referring to the questions raised by CAG over various decisions, including in coal blocks allocation and 2G spectrum.
At the same time, the PM asserted that the Government under him in the last around 10 years did deliver, for which, he rued, the ruling dispensation was not getting the credit it deserved.
He cited how despite two bouts of global recession during his tenure the country has seen the average growth of 7.9 per cent over the last nine years. Singh asserted that his Government was taking steps to remove such “obstacles” as he cited that the projects worth Rs 5 lakh crore had been cleared by the Cabinet. “It will take some time for our efforts to bear fruit.”
On tackling corruption, he said these issues are being dealt with as per law, although his Government has followed the earlier policies in the allocation of coal blocks and 2G spectrum. “Now we have changed the system completely. Now the allocation of 2G spectrum and coal blocks is being done only through auction. In future, there is no scope of corruption in these areas,” he said.
He asked the people to judge the record of his Government while closely scrutinising that of Opposition Governments. Singh said the people should compare his Government’s performance with the record and claims of others, particularly in the context of inclusiveness, an apparent reference to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
He said that the recent election results were disappointing, but stressed there was no reason for despair as the party could still win the lok Sabha polls with an effective strategy under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.