New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the government in Rajya Sabha, alleging it has failed to check rising prices of fuel and cooking gas and generate employment opportunities for educated youths.

Participating in the general discussion on the interim budget, Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda claimed India's economic growth has been slower in the 10 years of the BJP-led government than it was under a decade of UPA rule.

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He also claimed that the UPA had scored better on all counts including key metrics like FDI, exports and job creation.

"Before 2014, the GDP growth rate in 10 years of UPA government grew 7.7 per cent and under the current government it grew 5.7 per cent," he said.

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Noting that the GDP depends on three pillars of investment, consumption and exports, the Congress MP said net FDI had zoomed during 10 years of UPA, exceeding the growth rates achieved under the current government.

On other parameters like private investment and exports too, the UPA outperformed the BJP-led government, Hooda claimed.

He flagged issues like fuel price rise, farmer loans, and rising disparity between the rich and poor.

The prices of petrol, diesel, and gas has risen from Rs 71, Rs 55 and Rs 400 respectively to Rs 97, Rs 90 and 1000 respectively, he said adding that increase in toll collection reflected the increasing burden of levies on people.

"Government jobs which were at 17.3 lakh in 2014 has come down to 14 lakh today in the Government sector," Hooda said.

Another concerning issue is record unemployment, he said citing that unemployment rates among 25-year old graduates is nearly 45 per cent.

While government talks of free ration to 80 crore households, India ranks 111 out of a total of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index, he said.

Attacking the government, TMC leader Jawhar Sircar said that the budget depends heavily on loans and debt.

"Fiscal deficit is a very innocent term. 5.8 per cent of fiscal deficit for the current year translates into Rs 15.5 lakh crore of borrowing. In this Budget out of Rs 47 lakh crore, Rs 17 lakh crore consists of borrowing," he said.

In 67 years, the government borrowed just Rs 56 lakh crore. This government in the last 9.5 years has borrowed three times more, Sircar claimed.

"Today India's debt stands at Rs 164 lakh crore which is unprecedented and at a dangerous level," he stated.

DMK's S Shanmugam said the interim budget is not very different from the budgets the government has been presenting over the last nine years.

"As usual it is plethora of empty words, platitudes, and great disappointment of people...People are not convinced and they will give a befitting reply in coming Lok Sabha elections," he said.

Shanmugam said Budget has "deliberately ignored" the interests of Tamil Nadu, and be it railways, roads, or energy, "our state has been totally ignored".

"Recently, the state of Tamil Nadu, especially the coastal areas were devastated by cyclone and floods. Our state government has demanded Rs 37,907 crore for providing relief and restoration of damage to infrastructure like roads and bridges. So far, the Union government has not responded positively other than sending central team to assess the damage," he said demanding that the Centre immediately release the amount so that relief and rehabilitation work can continue smoothly in the state.

RJD MP AD Singh charged the government with undermining federalism and rued what he termed was a "step motherly treatment to states". He also drew attention to the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

V Vijaysai Reddy of YSRCP blamed Congress governments for misgovernance and corruption. He noted that the country is on the growth path after the party was shunted out of power by the people.

Citing the economic strides taken by the country, BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari said that while India is among the top five economies in the world, the country has seen record exports and doubling of FDI.

JD(U) MP Ram Nath Thakur and AGP's Birendra Prasad Baishya spoke in support of the interim budget.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)