Union Minister Raosaheb Danve on Saturday slammed some political parties for making promises during elections about offering freebies and subsidies that disturb the budget and affect the country's economy.
Danve was speaking at the inaugural function of the 45th National Marathi Economics Conference held at JES College here.
Some political parties make poll promises of distributing cell phones and television sets. This puts a burden on the exchequer, the Union minister of state for Railways and Coal said.
Even the Centre procures food grains at higher prices and then supplies them through the public distribution system at a meagre rate, which affects the budget, he said.
Danve further claimed that the Indian economy was improving and the country, which was the 11th largest economy in the world, is now ranked the fifth largest.
Speaking about the quality of education in the country, the minister said the quality of higher education has declined, and the situation was grim in the rural areas.
Educationists should focus on imparting skill-based education to students so that they become skillfull citizens in the future, he said.
Economist Dr R B Bhandwalkar, who presided over the conference, pulled up the Centre for its wrong economic policy.
"The rise in unemployment, economic disparity and unequal distribution of wealth are some of the major problems that the country is facing," Dr Bhandwalkar said.
The government replaced the planning commission with NITI Aayog, which failed to solve problems in the economy, he said, claiming that the present government is heading towards privatisation of public sectors and destroying employment opportunities.
-With PTI Input
