India’s Finance Minister and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting a proposed ‘White Paper’ to compare the economic performance of 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government with that of 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government. The ‘White Paper’ will be presented in an extended Budget Session of the Parliament. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government will table a ‘white paper’ in both Houses of Parliament “to look at where we were till 2014 and where we are now”.
Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge released ‘Black Paper’ called ‘10 saal anyay kaal‘ on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s 10 years of governance.
Tabling the interim budget 2024-25 in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Modi government, which assumed office in 2014, overcame the crisis of those years and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path.
Both papers will be presented during the budget session which is the last Parliament session before Lok Sabha polls expected in April-May in 2024. The last session before Lok Sabha polls was started with the address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of two Houses on January 31.
What is White Papers?
The term “white paper” comes from a 100-year-old practice of government reporting in the UK. When government agencies provided data to Parliament to help them make decisions, they would offer three different types:
-Very long, comprehensive documents with a blue cover
-Open-ended reports with a green cover
-Short, focused reports on a single topic with white covers
This last type, the concise document with information to solve a problem, came to be the formula for what is now known in many industries as a “white paper.”
What is Black Papers?
The “Black Papers” were a series of pamphlets on education, their name being a contrast to government White Papers, which unofficial papers criticizing government policy.
BJP’s NDA vs Congress’ UPA
Prime Minister Modi launched attacks on Opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge , who was PM Modi’s prime target, hit back in a post on X.
“Despite being in power for 10 years, instead of talking about himself, he only criticises the Congress party. Even today he did not talk about price rise, unemployment and economic inequality?” Kharge said, adding, “‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ is only to spread LIES!”
BJP MP Jayant Sinha has claimed that the Indian economy was ruined by the end of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure in 2014. BJP MP Sinha said India was among ‘fragile five’ economies globally when the UPA was in power in 2013.
Jayant Sinha, who was also the Minister of State (MoS) for Finance in the BJP-led Centre in 2014, said that it took a lot of effort for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive Indian economic growth.
Here’s your comprehensive 3-minute summary of all the things Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech: Click to download!
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Published: 08 Feb 2024, 11:20 AM IST
