Modi govt 'most anti-intellectual': Chidambaram
March 03, 2017  23:31
Terming the Modi government as the world's "most anti-intellectual" for questioning experts on GDP figures, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the economy will take 12-18 months to recover from the "devastating" impact of demonetisation.
     
"It (the government) even thinks that Amartya Sen, professor at Harvard is undeserving of any respect. It thinks that Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard are all useless," he said. 
     
Speaking at a seminar on "Untold Stories of Demonetisation - Its impact on Indian Economy", organised by AICC, the senior Congress leader was critical of the government's criticism of noted economists like Nobel 

laureate Amartya Sen for questioning government's growth data post- demonetisation.
    
"We have the most anti-intellectual government in the world," he said.
     
Citing government data, he said going by the Gross Value Addition (GVA) figures it is clear that the economy has slowed down and the Q4 data of national income will further confirm that the economy has been hit "very 
very badly" by note ban. 
     
"It is clear from government's GVA data that the economy is in a clear declining trend... It is important that we understand that the devastating effect of demonetisation has interrupted India's economy story. It was an unnecessary interruption.
     
"To recover from this interruption, in my assessment, it will take between 12 and 18 months to recover. So you will see this impact into 2017-18 and may be right up to the end of 2017-18," Chidamabaram said.
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