The Winter Session of India's Parliament, which began on December 7, is under way and scheduled until December 29 with a total of 17 sittings. Since the session began, the Parliament has focused on several issues of national significance such as the India-China standoff, inflation and unemployment.
All eyes and ears are tuned to the discussions on India's economic growth, which slowed down to 6.3 percent in the second quarter — the July-September period — this fiscal. Official data from November 30 showed poor performance in the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors.
For latest updates on the Parliament Winter Session 2022, read here.
Addresing the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, December 14, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured members that the Centre is on track to meet its fiscal deficit target of 6.4 percent of GDP in FY23. She added that India faces no risk of a stagflation as it is the fastest-growing economy in the world with low retail and wholesale inflation rates.
Sitharaman said the Centre will further push down inflation as the Indian rupee begins to strengthen against other currencies.
However, forex reserves have fallen by $72 billion in under a year, Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra pointed out in her viral speech on Wednesday.
During Tuesday's Question Hour, Sitharaman also said 50 percent of foreign institutional investors (FII) inflows into emerging markets are coming into India. Moitra responded to Sitharaman's comments by highlighting the record-breaking number of Indians who gave up their citizenship this year.
"Is this the sign of a healthy economic environment, of a healthy tax environment? Who's the pappu now," Moitra questioned.
Mahua Moitra's comments
Speaking on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, Moitra addressed the government's additional demand for grants for 2022-23 of Rs 3.26 lakh crore.
"This government has us believe every February that this country's economy is going great guns. We are the fastest growing, most efficient global player. Everyone is getting employment. We're getting gas cylinders. We're getting electricity. We're getting pakka houses. This falsehood flies for about 8- 10 months and then the truth comes limping after it," Moitra argued.
Moitra went on to call out the government and ruling party who "coined the term pappu," turning a sharp focus on their shortcomings. She quoted data by the National Statistical Office, which highlighted a 4 percent decrease in industrial output, bringing it to a 26-month low. The manufacturing sector, which is the biggest generator of jobs, contracted 5.6 percent. Furthermore, negative growth rates were reported in 17 sectors belonging to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Success of startups in India
During the Lok Sabha's Question Hour on Wednesday, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal lauded the fact that the nation has 84,012 recognised startups. "Startups… failures is a very high probability. Though I must say, the success rate of startups in India is relatively higher than the rest of the world," Goyal said.
India, which had 452 startups in 2016 when the Startup India Initiative was launched, celebrated its 100th unicorn startup in May.
Competiton (Amendment) Bill, 2022
A parliamentary panel on Tuesday recommended changes to a Bill amending the competition law. The Bill proposed reducing the timeline for the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to form a prime facie opinion on cases from 30 days to 20 days. It also suggested the CCI expand the scope of settlements to include cartels that, as per the Bill, are anti-competitive by nature.
Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Parliament on Monday (December 12) passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, mandating the use of non-fossil energy sources like green hydrogen and biomass. The Bill allows for carbon credit trading and lays down a framework for the National Carbon Market, which could later be linked with international markets.
In addition to helping the country reach its sustainability goals, the Bill is also aimed at speeding up the decarbonisation of the Indian economy. It also brings residential buildings under the energy conservation regime, aiming to save 300 billion units of electricity by 2030.
Union Minister of Power and Minister of New and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh, who introduced the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, believed it was a step toward taking concrete action on the matter.
Opposition action and plans
Opposition members, however, raised concerns about the Bill encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the Environment Ministry.
V. Sivadasan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) argued that the Bill favours centralisation and fails to address the issues of common people. He suggested that the Centre give states the right to manage their own energy conservation methods as they differ state-to-state.
At an all-party meeting held on December 6 ahead of the commencement of the session, reports indicated the Congress party's intent to raise matters relating to the nation's economy. The party was concerned about high inflation, the fall of the rupee, high GST rates and falling exports.
With inputs from PTI.
