राजन ने मोदी के 'न्यूनतम सरकार- कारगर प्रशासन' के वादे पर सवाल उठाया

रघुराम राजन ने मोदी सरकार के कार्यकाल पर सवाल उठाए हैं. राजन ने पुस्तक 'द थर्ड पिलर' के अनावरण के मौके पर ऐसी प्रतिक्रिया दी.

रघुराम राजन. फाइल फोटो

Published : Mar 28, 2019, 12:10 AM IST

मुंबई: रिजर्व बैंक के पूर्व गवर्नर रघुराम राजन ने नरेंद्र मोदी सरकार के 'न्यूनतम सरकार- कारगर प्रशासन' के वादे पर सवाल खड़े किए हैं. उन्होंने कहा कि मोदी के शासन में सरकार ने बिना किसी अंकुश के अधिक ताकत हासिल की और इस दौरान कई तरह की अक्षमतायें पैदा हुई.

बुधवार को जाने माने अर्थशास्त्री रघुराम राजन ने कहा कि इस तरह के शासन से सरकार पर निर्भर और कमजोर निजी क्षेत्र के सामने कोई विकल्प नहीं रह गया और उसे सरकार की हर तरह के फैसले की प्रशंसा और ताली बजाने पर मजबूर होना पड़ा.

राजन नई दिल्ली में अपनी एक पुस्तक 'द थर्ड पिलर' के अनावरण के मौके पर बोल रहे थे. उन्होंने कहा, 'सवाल यह खड़ा होता है कि हम इस मामले में (न्यूनतम सरकार- कारगर प्रशासन) के वादे पर कितना खरा उतरे हैं? मेरा मानना है कि हम लगातार बाबुओं और नौकरशाही पर ही लगातार अधिक से अधिक निर्भर रहे हैं.'

राजन ने स्वीकार किया न्यूनतम आय गारंटी (न्याय) योजना के मामले में उन्होंने कांग्रेस नेतृत्व के समक्ष अपने विचार रखे. उन्होंने कहा कि यह योजना लागू करने लायक है. उन्होंने कहा कि भाजपा ने नकदी हस्तांतरण और कांग्रेस ने न्याय योजना के वादे के जरिये यह दिखाया है कि गरीबी दूर करने के लिये नकद हस्तांतरण ही बेहतर मार्ग है.

यहां यह गौर करने वाली बात है कि न्यूनतम सरकार - कारगर प्रशासन देने का वादा वर्ष 2014 के चुनाव अभियान के दौरान मोदी का प्रमुख नारा रहा है. पिछले पांच साल के उनके शासन के दौरान कुछ अर्थशास्त्रियों ने सरकार के नोटबंदी और माल एवं सेवाकर (जीएसटी) को जल्दबाजी में लागू करने जैसे फैसलों को लेकर सरकार की आलोचना करते रहे हैं.

राजन सितंबर 2013 से सितंबर 2016 तक भारतीय रिजर्व बैंक के गवर्नर रहे हैं. उसके बाद वह अमेरिका की शिकागो विश्वविद्यालय में प्रोफेसर के तौर पर काम करने लगे.

उन्होंने कहा, 'हमें उदारीकरण के मामले में वापस नहीं लौटना है. उन्होंने हाल ही में शुरू कि गई संरक्षात्मक शुल्क लगाने की आलोचना की. इस्पात और टिकाऊ उपभोक्ता सामानों जैसे की टेलीविजन और स्मार्टफोन पर इस तरह के शुल्क लगाये गये. इसका असर यह हुआ कि कुछ बड़ी विदेशी कंपनी को स्थानीय स्तर पर अपना विनिर्माण बंद करना पड़ा.

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Rajan questions Modi's minimum govt,maximum governance promise
Mumbai, Mar 27 (PTI) Former Reserve Bank governor
Raghuram Rajan Wednesday questioned the 'minimum government
and maximum governance' promise of the Narendra Modi regime,
saying the state has gained more power sans any checks and
balances and has created too much inefficiencies in its wake.
This has led to a "dependent and pliant" private
sector which has no choice but to applaud every decision of
the government, the noted economist said.
"The question is, how far have we come on that
(minimum government and maximum governance)? I think we
continue to rely too much on the bureaucracy to do many
things," the academic said at the city launch of his new book
'The Third Pillar' here this evening.
"The scope of the government is something we will have
to examine sooner, rather than later, because today it does
too much too inefficiently," he said.
It can be noted that the minimum government and
maximum governance promise was one of the central themes of
Modi's 2014 election campaign. However, in the past five years
of his rule, his bloated administration has been accused of
being "statist" by critics for decisions like demonetization
and the haphazardly manner in which the uniform tax regime GST
was rolled out.
Rajan, who went back to the University of Chicago as a
professor after his stint at the Reserve Bank between
September 2013 and September 2016, said "we must not go back
on liberalisation moves", criticising the recent moves like
re-introduction of protective tariffs in a slew of sectors
like steel and consumer durables like televisions and
smartphones, which led some leading foreign companies to
shutter their local manufacturing.
He was also critical of the policy changes on the e-
commerce industry which have hurt entrenched players, saying
there is an "angst" in the West because of the move, which
came in soon after the largest ever FDI of USD 16 billion into
the country was announced by Walmart to takeover domestic e-
tailing major Flipkart last August.
"There is a lot of angst in the West on how the rules
in the e-commerce sector were changed. This is the kind of
uncertainty that keeps away FDI from coming into the country,"
Rajan said.
The country has to pitch itself as a haven for
investments because of the anxieties surrounding China, he
said, adding we need to "stick to the rules" and change them
transparently.
"We need to convince people that we would respect
their ability to do business here," Rajan said.
Such posturing by the Modi government is leading to a
situation where the state is gaining more and more powers
without the necessary checks and balances, said Rajan, who
earlier in the day said that he was open to come back to serve
the country if called out to do so.
"As the state expands its realm whether through
regulatory or discretionary powers, it essentially gains more
powers without a proper checks and balances," he said, adding
the uncertainties of shifting goalposts makes the private
sector less potent.
"A dependent private sector makes for a pliant private
sector and that doesn't ever afford a sufficient check and
balance for a government."
He also cited the airlines and hospitality sectors as
two areas where the government has no role to be in and should
be best left to the private sector.
Rajan also questioned the data computation on growth,
saying how can we continue to have low job creation and lower
capacity utilisation if we are having an official growth
number of 7 percent or more.
Rajan said there is a "disconnect" in the data and it
is prompting some "soul-searching". However, it has not yet
come to a juncture where people are throwing out the data, he
made it clear.
Stressing on the 7 percent growth as the "official"
growth rate, Rajan said there is a need to grow beyond this
new "Hindu rate of growth" as the nation was called during the
under-4 percent growth years before the July 1991
liberalisation move.
The former governor also said this requires fresh
thinking on how to push growth up and that minor tweakings in
the policies will not be of help.
Rajan said sufficient growth and resources that accrue
because of it are necessary for serving the poor, but seemed
to be against taxes on the super rich. Rather, what is
required is better tax compliance, he underlined. PTI AA
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