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31 March 2014,

The 2014 Congress Manifesto: economic agenda

Congress released its election manifesto on March 26, 2014 outlining their agenda for the next 5 years. Rajrishi Singhal, Senior Geoeconomics Fellow at Gateway House, analyses the economic agenda outlined in the Congress manifesto.

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Congress released its election manifesto on March 26, 2014 outlining their agenda for the next 5 years. Rajrishi Singhal, Senior Geoeconomics Fellow at Gateway House, analyses the economic agenda outlined in the Congress manifesto.

The Congress party’s 2014 election manifesto, released only two weeks before the country goes to polls, is largely a tapestry of old promises and lacks any big, blue-sky ideas that could radically propel the country towards a higher, and more inclusive, growth path.

The country faces three, large economic challenges: persistently high inflation, economic stagnation emanating largely from a sluggish investment climate, and, a fragile balance of payments situation. Surprisingly, the manifesto is not only bereft of any concrete ideas on how to bring down the price line, but seems to endorse the notion that moderate inflation is acceptable in the pursuit of high economic growth. Even in the agriculture section, there are no compelling ideas on how the party proposes to boost productivity, or improve the farm-to-fork linkages by eliminating inefficient layers.

Overall, the economic agenda seems to have got hopelessly entangled in the reiteration of antiquated promises: more attention should have been paid to other serious issues, such as improving the declining savings growth rate, without which plans for increased investment in either manufacturing or infrastructure, and associated lofty targets for employment generation, are rendered meaningless.

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