CPI wants special session of Parliament to discuss economic situation/saying the government should come out with a strategy on the situation.

29 Dec, 2011, 03.01PM IST, PTI

CPI wants special session of Parliament to discuss economic situation


NEW DELHI: CPI today demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss the "critical" economic scenario and stagflation facing the country, saying the government should come out with a strategy on the situation.

"It is a gross default on our part and also the part of the government that we have not been able to discuss this critical situation and stagflation facing our nation," party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha.

Maintaining that the country was facing stagflation, he said the growth rate has slipped by 7 per cent, investment and FDI has gone down, lending by banks and foreign investment have declined and there was a steep rise in unemployment.

Stagflation means the economy faces persistently high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand.

As the people were facing distress and the number of farmers committing suicide was growing, the government should convene a special session on the economic situation facing the country and come out with a strategy to counter it.

Congress member Manish Tewari said about 54 Prisoners of War have been languishing in Pakistani jails since the 1971 Indo-Pak war and there have been "repeated evidence" of their existence including through sightings and letters.

"Their families are facing a sorry plight as they do not know whether these people are alive or dead. These are those who risked their lives for the country in the 1971 war," he said and urged the government to create multi-disciplinary agency to investigate these cases and take it up with Pakistan at the earliest.

His party colleague P L Punia said despite strict laws, the number of crimes against SCs and STs were on the rise.