DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FM TABLES WHITE PAPER ON ECONOMY IN PARLIAMENT Polls ahead, Govt says economy turned stagnant in 10 yrs of UPA AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 THE UNION Ministry of Finance said Thursday that the decadelong UPA rule under the Congress-led government — 2004-05 to 2013-14 — turned India “from a healthy economy in 2004 to a stagnant economy in 2014”. It was marked by strainedpublicfinances,corruption scams, double-digit inflation, ailing banking sector following excessive lending during the boom phase, and policy uncertainty that marred India's business climate and dented its image. The 59-page ‘White Paper on the Indian Economy’ tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said when the Narendra Modi government assumed office in 2014,theeconomywasina“fragilestate”;publicfinanceswerein “badshape”;therewaseconomic mismanagement and financial indiscipline,andwidespreadcorruption. “It was a crisis situation. The responsibilitytomendtheeconomy step by step and to put the governancesystemsinorderwas enormous,” the White Paper said. The document prepared by the Ministry of Finance said the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY White Paper red-flags NPAs, scams and policy freeze, skips growth years credit UDIT MISRA & AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 THEFRAMINGoftheWhitePaper on the Indian Economy couldn’t have been more overtly political: the paper, authored by the ● Union Finance Ministry,startsoff saying“whenweformedthegovernment.” This is an unusual departure from tradition, said at E EXPLAINED Sitharaman:Itwas acrisis,mending economystepby stepwashugetask Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. PTI least two former Finance Secretaries, adding that, institutionally,theMinistryisn’tsynony- mous with the Government. This sets the tone for the paper which then goes on to flag the worst of the economy during UPA’s decade-long tenure. From bad loans to high inflation, a slew of corruption cases to policy paralysis, the paper’s political imperative is clear: to draw the battle-lines in the runup to the campaign for 2024. Its tone echoes Prime Minister NarendraModi’ssharpattackon the Congress in his Parliament speeches earlier this week. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union of States becoming Union over States: Kerala CM as Opp joins protest AISWARYA RAJ NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 THE PROTEST at Jantar Mantar ThursdaybytheLeft-ruledKerala government against what it called the Centre’s “discrimination” in allocation of funds, and for “safeguarding the constitutionalrightsofstates”,turnedinto a unity show of INDIA bloc parties minus the Congress which is the Opposition party in the state. At the protest, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were State ministers and Left MPs and MLAs, as well as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who lashed out at the BJP government. Also present was ArvindKejriwal,SitaramYechury,PinarayiVijayan,Bhagwant Mann, DRajaandFarooqAbdullahwithotherleadersatJantar Mantar. Abhinav Saha THEPINARAYIVIJAYANINTERVIEW PAGE4 Kejriwal’s party colleague and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann, Tamil Nadu IT min- ister P Thiaga Rajan, DMK leader TiruchiSiva,NationalConference CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RBI leaves repo rate unchanged, food inflation uncertainty persists GDP growth for FY25 projected at 7%: Governor Das HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 8 THE SIX-MEMBER Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Shaktikanta Das in Mumbai, Thursday. PTI Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Thursday left the repo rate — the rate at which the RBI lends to banks—unchangedat6.5percent for the sixth time in a row as uncertainty over food inflation continuestoposeathreattoinflation. The RBI projected real GDP growth at 7 per cent and consumer-pricebasedinflation(CPI) at 4.5 per cent for FY2025. Its growth estimate for FY2025 is lower than the 7.3 per cent projected by the National Statistical Office (NSO) for the ongoing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RLD inches closer to NDA, Free movement along Akhilesh says ‘BJP knows border with Myanmar how to break, buy parties’ being suspended: Shah ASAD REHMAN MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL & SUKRITA BARUAH LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 8 WITH CONSENSUS yet to be reached with the Samajwadi Party(SP)ondetailsof seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is moving closer to joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the coming days, sourceswithinthepartytoldThe Indian Express on Thursday. The BJP, party insiders said, was offering it four Lok Sabha constituencies, a Union ministry, and two state ministries. NEW DELHI, GUWAHATI, FEB 8 SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary had announced to contest 7 Lok Sabha seats together in UP. File If the RLD jumps ship, it will be a major blow to the Opposition INDIA alliance in UP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAYS AFTER announcing that a fence would be built along the entire 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar for better surveillance, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Thursday that the government has decided to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar to ensure internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic ‘Move to secure North-East states’ structure of North-East states bordering Myanmar. HesaidtheMinistryof Home Affairshasrecommendedtheimmediate suspension of the FMR. In a post on X, Shah said, “It is Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s resolve to secure our borders. The Ministry of Home CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Two killed in Srinagar were neighbours in Amritsar, moved out to earn a little extra PAGE 1 ANCHOR KAMALDEEP SINGH BRAR AMRITSAR, FEBRUARY 8 AMRITPAL SINGH and Rohit Masih, who were killed in a militant attack in Srinagar on Wednesdayevening,hadarrived in the Valley earlier that day — the former after spending the winterathomeandthelatterfor the first time. Both men came from poor families in an The body of Amritpal Singh, who was killed in Srinagar, arrives at his home near Amritsar on Thursday. PTI Amritsar village and had taken up work in Jammu and Kashmir to support those at home. Singh, 31, died on the spot while Masih, 27, succumbed to hisinjuriesonThursdaymorning inaSrinagarhospital.Sourcessaid the suspected militants fired at themjustoutsidetheirrentedaccommodation at Shaheed Gunj. Both hailed from Punjab’s Chamyari village and were neighbours. LateonWednesday,Harjinder Singh Khaira, Station House Officer,Ajnalapolicestation,went CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow