Pheku lies on Agricultural growth exposed
Chief Minister Jhootendrabhai’s Well Irrigated Phek
Magic Figures on Agricultural Growth Evaporate on Examination
The last two decades have seen agricultural distress of humungous proportions all across India. And in that context when Pheku and co made a claim that Gujarat was showing record growth rates in agricultural growth – double digit growth – as the Pheku PR machine claimed – then the nation took notice and applauded. Surely, if in an overall environment of agricultural distress he had managed even half of the 10% growth he claimed then it would be worth applauding.
But, as always with Pheku, its all jadu mantar figures.
Here is how he did it. First take a really bad year or two and then build your comparison against those years. It just so happened that Gujarat experienced significant drought (and crop failures) in 1999 and 2000. And then between 2001 and 2005 it got four good monsoons. So simple. Compare 1999-2000 with the next five years and you can claim record growth. Not because the agricultural output of 2001-05 was remarkably different from say 1995 or 1996 but because it was remarkably different from 1999-2000.
The truth is even simpler: between 1988 and 1998 Gujarat’s agricultural output grew at an annual average rate of 10%. In 1999-2000 it dipped by 30%. Further, Pheku’s double digit claims uses one more trick. It calculates growth rates using current prices thus not factoring in inflation (Times of India, Nov 10, 2010). Once you take all the data into account you get a 4% growth rate between 2001 and 2009 as against Pheku’s claim of 9.6% (which he quickly rounded off to 10% so that he could claim double digits!!). At 4%, Gujarat was about 33% below its Eleventh Five Year Plan target on agricultural output. Stellar performance indeed. No wonder I am tempted to call him CM Jhootendrabhai Pheku!
Source:
Pheku.in » Pheku lies on Agricultural growth exposed
Modi staging 'fake encounter with facts' on economic growth
Fake encounters and terrorism got mixed up with GDP growth Monday as the Congress and BJP traded barbs over how the economy had fared under NDA and UPA.
The spat followed Sunday's criticism by the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, that growth had fallen to 4.8 per cent under the UPA from 8.4 per cent under the NDA.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram sought to puncture Modi's claim, pointing out that average annual growth during UPA 1 and 2 has been better than that under the NDA.
"The average for the six year period was 6.0 per cent and the average for the last five years was 5.9 per cent," Chidambaram said in a statement, referring to the NDA's rule from 1998 to 2004. "If there was a golden period of growth, it was the five year period under UPA 1."
He said the average growth rate during UPA 1 was 8.4 per cent and it was 7.3 per cent for the first four years of UPA 2. "I wonder why Shri Narendra Modi should stage a fake encounter with facts," Chidambaram added.
The BJP hit back with former finance minister Yashwant Sinha faulting Chidambaram for invoking average growth rates.
"Chidambaram is doing terrorism with facts. He is only comparing on averages. This is only jugglery of figures," Sinha responded.
"They are comparing nine years average with five years average of NDA. Can Chidambaram explain why the growth rate today is 4.8 per cent?" the BJP leader retorted, adding that when the BJP-led coalition left office, it was 8.6 per cent.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/modi-staging-fake-encounter-with-facts-on-economic-growth-chidambaram/1173002/