The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:
In a country as vast and diverse as ours, even on a sunny day, it is not easy being the Finance minister. Perhaps the toughest job after the Prime Minister of India is being the Finance minister of India. Every Finance minister of India therefore deserves a special place in India’s history (including P. Chidambaram!).
People often term the years 1990-1991 as the most challenging year for India’s finances. The 1991 budget is often referred to as the budget that changed the course of India. Be that as it may, I am now of the strong belief that the worst year so far for India’s economy has been the year 2020. A full lockdown for nearly a month, followed by a partial lifting of the lockdown over the course of the next 3-5 months only meant that the economy will dip to levels not seen before. Revenue of course will come down but more importantly the sentiment that guides the economy also takes a big hit.
Imagine being the Finance minister of the country in times like this! Imagine the pressure she has been subjected to, day in and day out, to announce something or the other to “revive” the economy. Imagine the ridicule she had to put up with (“India’s worst Finance minister” screamed even the supporters, after the 2020 budget). Imagine people slicing and dicing your speeches and twisting them out of context (Remember the twisting of the “I don’t eat onion” comment?). Imagine being constantly accused and heckled that the country is in doldrums because of you. Imagine being Nirmala Sitharaman in times like this!
People like Rahul Gandhi wanted the country to burn. The English media waited for food riots to break out in the country because of the lockdown. The media pounced on any report from anywhere in the world that predicted a long recovery for India and any Tom, Dick and Harry who forecasted low growth numbers for many years to come was given prime time space to amplify those views.
Come 2021, India had rebounded and how! These same analysts are baffled as to how we rebounded so well. For you to get an answer to that question, you must listen to Finance minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman’s reply to the 2021 budget (in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha). While some statistics will blow your mind, it is the attitude of the government that needs to be discussed here.
From ~30 min in the video here, Nirmala Sitharaman explains how they had instructed banks to either call or SMS and keep in touch with every single MSME entrepreneur and inform them that they are more than welcome to take a security free loan to start reviving their unit (pay pending bills, pay salaries, buy/repair equipment). And when feedback came that there is confusion if such an offer is only for MSME’s, clarifications were issued that this scheme was not just for MSME’s but even for other small businesses. The option to reject the loan was given to the customer and not to the bank. A new PM SVANIDHI scheme was announced for street vendors and nearly 50 lakhs of them availed this scheme.
While replying on MNREGA, Nirmala Sitharaman revealed some very interesting statistics. She told us how the UPA government didn’t even spend what was allotted to the scheme in the years that they were in power (Watch from ~26th minute here, for some astounding truths). Of course, Sonia Gandhi was never questioned about this low utilization. She was only deified for bringing in such a scheme in the first place. Most importantly, Nirmala Sitharaman explained, at ~29th minute here, how the spending on this scheme for this pandemic year is at an all time high of ~1 lakh crore! On MyInd Makers, we had earlier analysed how Sonia Gandhi (Congress) and Brinda Karat (Communist) were in full praise of the MNREGA version being implemented by this government.
Another extremely important argument that Nirmala Sitharaman made was how the entire Atmanirbhar package was designed to tailor the needs of the Indian who needs it. It was not a copy-paste effort of other countries. It was not announced as a knee-jerk reaction to grab meaningless headlines. A total of INR 29 lakh crore worth of package was announced during the course of the year (notice how she also clarifies, at ~47th minute here, on a member’s question on whether the number is 27 lakh crore or 29 lakh crore). She explains how feedback was gathered right from the level of the Prime Minister and then tailored to meet the needs of Indians. She explained how changes were made when certain shortcomings were bought to their notice.
So, it turned out that the Finance Ministry of the Modi government ensured unprecedented availability of funds to provide rural employment to a tune never seen before; provided the best possible structural support for revival of MSMEs and street vendors; ensured that direct cash transfers continue to happen for farmers – and we have to witness the spectacle of alleged experts wondering how come the Indian economy is reviving so fast! If we have such a dynamic leadership, why would we not rebound like how we did? Who would not like to have leadership that looks for avenues to ease the lives of Indians like this?
India’s revival is a revival that has been engineered by the joint stupendous efforts of both the government of India and citizens of India. The role of the Finance Ministry and the leadership of Nirmala Sitharaman during the year 2020 will go down into the history books as legendary. I reiterate – 2020 was the toughest year Indian economy faced, even worse than 1991. We are indeed lucky to have Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman be at the helm in these challenging times. “India’s worst finance minister” may actually end up becoming India’s best Finance minister. Without exaggeration!
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