Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Thursday, tabled the 'White Paper on the Indian Economy'—announced during the presentation of the Interim Budget last week— in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman had announced that the government would come out with a white paper, outlining the economic mismanagement in the 10 years of UPA rule till 2014.
The white paper said the NDA government, in the last 10 years, has successfully overcome the challenges left behind by the UPA government and took "tough decisions" to place India on the path of sustainable high growth.
The 59-page document said when the Modi government assumed office in 2014, the economy was in a "fragile state"; public finances were in "bad shape" and that there was economic mismanagement, and financial indiscipline, and widespread corruption. "It was a crisis situation. The responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous.”
According to the white paper, the UPA government failed miserably to facilitate economic activities, instead it created hurdles that held back the economy.
In 2014 NDA government inherited a "deeply damaged" economy, it claimed.
There were numerous scams, bringing colossal revenue losses for exchequer and fiscal and revenue deficits, the white paper said. It observed that the banking crisis was one of the most important and infamous legacies of the UPA government.
"The coal scam shook the conscience of the nation in 2014. Before 2014, the allocation of coal blocks was done on an arbitrary basis without following a transparent process to allocate the blocks. The coal sector was excluded from competition and transparency and the sector lacked investments and efficiencies."
"In the UPA government, decision-making came to a standstill due to corruption and scandals in defence, compromising defence preparedness. The government delayed the acquisition of artillery and anti-aircraft guns, fighters, submarines, night fighting gear and a host of equipment upgrades," it stated.
The white paper dubbed the decade of the UPA government "a lost decade" because it failed to capitalise on the strong foundational economy and pace of reforms left behind by the Vajpayee government.
Armed with political and policy stability, the Modi government recognised the need to make tough decisions for the greater economic good, the paper said.
"Our government, unlike its predecessor, invested in the foundations of the economy along with building a sturdy superstructure. Looking back at the last ten years, we can say with humility and satisfaction that we have successfully overcome the challenges left behind by the previous government," it added.
Every challenge of the pre-2014 era was overcome through NDA government's economic management and governance, the paper claimed.
The paper further added that there are "miles to go and mountains to scale before we sleep" as the destination is to make India a developed nation by 2047.
