Arun Shourie questions NDA govt’s employment generation claims : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Kasauli literature festival

Arun Shourie questions NDA govt’s employment generation claims

KASAULI: Former BJP minister and noted journalist and author Arun Shourie on Friday hit out at the NDA government’s claims on job creation at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival here.

Arun Shourie questions NDA govt’s employment generation claims

Arun Shourie speaks at the ‘Khuswant Singh Literary Festival-2017’ in Kasauli on October 6. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar



Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Kasauli, October 6

Former BJP minister and noted journalist and author Arun Shourie on Friday hit out at the NDA government’s claims on job creation.

Speaking at the sixth edition of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival here, he candidly termed a section of politicians as sociopaths and self-seeking.

“Politicians should be judged by their actions and what they have condoned, not merely by what they have said.  Claims made by them should be examined by the people,” he shared.

He aptly used the opportunity to question NDA government’s claim of having generated 5.5 crore jobs through the much-publicised MUDRA scheme, when, in fact, 1.5 million jobs had been lost in the first quarter of this year alone.

He said the government, on the contrary, had promised 2 crore jobs, annually. He even rubbished the figures presented in the economic surveys and said a large section of the media was playing to the galleries.

He was addressing a session on ‘how to recognise rulers for what they are’. He gave the audience nuances of how a politician adroitly uses public goodwill to camouflage his failures.

Shatrughan defends Yashwant Sinha

Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha defended fellow party leader Yashwant Sinha’s critical remarks on the economy and said such concerns have been voiced by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram among others.

He said PM Narendra Modi has always maintained that the nation is bigger than the party.

The sixth edition of the much-awaited Kasauli literature festival got off to a colourful start with a bevy of writers, cine-stars and noted journalists descending on to this pristine cantonment town at the historic Kasauli Club.

Lending the characteristic zing to the proceedings were Shobhaa De, author and columnist, Vijay Tankha, former head of Department of Philosophy, St Stephan’s College Delhi, Pavan K Verma, diplomat, writer and politician, and Shourie.

Bold topic

In the session ‘Karma and the difficulty of doing good’, writers like Shobha De and Amrita Narayanan, actress Divya Dutta, and Chief Executive Officer, Harper Collins, dwelt on the connotations of bold themes in literature. Shobha noted that when women write on bold themes like pornography, they are viewed differently. 

Divya shared her initial inhibitions while enacting an amorous scene before the camera, but later saw it as an opportunity of looking at the camera and making love to it. 

She spoke about her various roles including one of Milkha Singh’s sister, who was sexually abused by her husband.

70 & going strong

Marking 70 years of the nation’s independence, “70” has been chosen as this year’s theme for the festival. It also symbolises seven decades of achievements, challenges and battles still to be won against problems like poverty, illiteracy and corruption, deteriorating environment fuelling climate change and the malaise of terrorism and fundamentalism.  


Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All