GDP rate comes down, new FM irks with a tweet!

The GDP growth rate numbers have come as a huge shock.  The 4th Quarter of the previous financial year (2018-19) saw a rate of just 5.8%.  The GDP rate for the whole financial year was 6.8%, which is the lowest in the last five years.  India is no longer the fastest growing economy, with China standing at No. 1.

The official data has also confirmed that India’s unemployment rate is at a 45-year high.  These two pieces of bad news came just a day after Narendra Modi became India’s 15th Prime Minister.

Curiously, the new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has irked many by sharing a tweet in which a commentator uses the term “Hindu rate of growth” for the current GDP rate.  The term has been seen as derogatory, as it associates underwhelming performance with the Hindu culture.  It was coined during the Nehruvian era and many economists and political commentators used to deploy it in their columns, analyzes, etc.  Long after the term stopped to be used, the FM has shared the tweet just because the Twitter user wished her all the best on becoming the FM in the same tweet!