D Subbarao: 'White paper should be brought on free gifts of political parties', former RBI Governor's advice to the Center
D Subbarao: Former RBI Governor says people should be made aware of free gifts. The government should ensure how we can stop this.
Former Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) D Subbarao has advised the Central Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding free gifts. He says that the government should bring a 'white paper' to create a consensus among political parties on the issue of giving free gifts. Also, there should be a deep debate about how to restrain political parties in this regard.
Subbarao also advised that the general public should be made more aware of the costs and benefits of these freebies and it is the responsibility of the government to educate people about this. He said, 'I think this is a political issue and there should be political consensus on it. It has to be led by the Central Government and the Prime Minister. I believe they should issue a white paper and try to build a consensus on it.
Former RBI Governor says people should be made aware of free gifts. He said that the government should ensure how we can stop this and how we can enforce it. He further said that in a poor country like India, it is the responsibility of the government to provide some safety net to the most vulnerable sections and also introspect as to how far they can be taken given the financial constraints.
“You have to ask, is this the best use of this money or can we do something better,” he advised. So I think we should be more aware of free gifts. At the same time, we should debate vigorously and find out how we can impose some restraint on political parties.
Regarding some states violating the FRBM limit, he said that the states and the central government should maintain fiscal discipline and FRBM targets should be followed. On a question, Subbarao said that according to an IMF study, India needs to grow at a continuous rate of 7.6 per cent till 2047 to become a developed nation.
"Sustaining a growth rate of 7.6 per cent every year for the next 25 years, some countries have done this, China has done this," he said. But the biggest problem is whether we can do this due to challenges like climate change, geo-politics, globalization etc. It is difficult to say.
