Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday alleged that theBJP-led government had tried to fool people that the GDP growth is much higherthan that of UPA and it was a scam.
He said NSSO data shifted the base year which is not unusualbut the CSO data shifted the base year gave up RBI data base and switched overto Ministry of Company Affairs data base called MCA-21.
“Now MCA-21 is not being made available to anyone inthe public domain – not available to economists – not available to researchers.It is a closely guarded secret of the government. They are using MCA data toget information about companies, their production, their profit,” he saidat a press conference here.
Chidambaram said NSSO, in the surveys, that was underway,completed, has found 35 per cent of companies in the MCA data base do notexist, they are not traceable.
“They are either closed down or they not found at theaddresses they have given. So, what is the data you are using to fool thepeople of this country that the GDP growth is much higher than the UPA? This isa scam. This is a scandal which has to be investigated first before we findsolution of it,” he said.
He said the BJP-led government is leaving behind onlyproblems.
“We have to address every single aspect of the economy– growth, fiscal stability, sluggish imports and exports, rising CurrentAccount Deficit, fall in investments, fall in consumption expenditure and steepdecline in agricultural growth and services sector growth,” he said.
The Congress leader alleged that the political leadershiphad interfered in an area which was normally beyond limits.
“You don’t interfere with the CSO’s working. Thepolitical leadership has virtually captured or intimidated the CSO and NSSO.You saw two of the only remaining officers resign. So, it is entirely the blamethat has to be laid at the door of the political leadership, whose approach hasbeen to capture and intimidate institutions,” he said.
He said howsoever much Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants totake away the narrative from the economy, ultimately, people will vote on thestate of the economy.
Doubts about veracity of the new series of GDP launched in2015 have resurfaced after a new National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) reportshowed that around 39 per cent of companies in the MCA-21 database, used forGDP calculation, could not be traced or surveyed.
“Out of the 39 per cent out-of-survey units in MCA, 21per cent were found to be out of coverage and another 12 per cent werenon-traceable (which in number is nearly 4,000 units),” said the report.
These companies were described as “active”companies by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
This revelation casts further shadow on the new series ofGDP data, which had showed significant drop in the growth estimate for the UPAadministration.
The usage of MCA-21 data was started with the new series in2015, instead of the previous data taken from the Reserve Bank of India.Several statistians and economists have raised concerns over the accuracy ofthe data since its inception.
Despite the release, observers warn against reading too muchinto prospects for greater press freedom in the beleaguered democracy, whichbegan a troubled transition from military rule in 2010.
“The pardon will not change the conditions thatjournalists (in Myanmar) are facing,” said activist Cheery Zahau.