New Delhi: Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, while attending a book launch event here, stated that India’s economy had taken a “quantum jump in the wrong direction” since 2014 despite being one of the fastest-growing ones.
“Things have gone pretty badly wrong… We are going backwards in the fastest-growing economy,” he said.
India was the 2nd best 20 years back, while now it is the 2nd worst, Sen added.
He pointed out that the government had been ineffective in dealing with issues of inequalities, the caste system and backward classes, particularly with regards people who clean toilets or sewage.
He also took a jibe at the government for its Hindu-centric politics and stated that this wouldn’t have been possible during the freedom struggle.
“But, that has happened. Which is why, at this time, the whole issue of Opposition unity is so important,” the economist said.
It is not a battle of one entity against the other (or) Mr Modi against Mr Rahul Gandhi, it is an issue of what India is, he added.
Economist and activist Jean Dreze, who had helped draft the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), also spoke at the event and termed the upcoming health insurance scheme, Ayushmann Bharat as “hoax” and said, “The budget (for the scheme) for this year is Rs 2,000 crore. Even if it is spent, it’s less than 20 rupees per person.”
