Finance Minister Sitharaman Unveils Comprehensive White Paper on Indian Economy in Lok Sabha

A White Paper on the Indian economy will be placed on the Lok Sabha table by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Thursday. A copy of the White Paper will be laid by the minister, according to the House’s supplemental list of business on February 8. President Droupadi Murmu’s speech to the joint session of the two Houses on January 31 marked the beginning of the budget session. The current Lok Sabha’s session is its last before the anticipated April–May general elections this year.

The government had stated in the February 1 union budget that it would release a “White Paper” comparing the economic results of the UPA government, led by the Congress, and the NDA government, led by the BJP, over a ten-year period. The Modi government, which took office in 2014, overcome the crisis of those years, and the economy has been firmly placed on a high sustainable growth path, according to Sitharaman, who presented the interim budget 2024–25 to Parliament.

“In 2014 when our Government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. The government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’,” she said.

“The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development.”
She announced that the government will lay a White Paper on the table of the House “to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years.”.

“The exemplary track record of governance, development and performance, effective delivery, and ‘Jan Kalyan’ has given the government trust, confidence and blessings of the people to realize, whatever it takes, the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ with good intentions, true dedication and hard work in the coming years and decades,” she said.
The budget session, which is the last Parliament session before Lok Sabha polls expected in April-May this year, was slated to conclude on February 9 and has bene extended by a day.