New Delhi: Hours after the Congress presented a black paper on the Narendra Modi government’s failures in the past decade, Union minister of finance Nirmala Sitharaman presented a white paper in the Lok Sabha on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2004-2014.Titled ‘White Paper on the Indian Economy’, the 59-page document that was presented in the Lower House on Thursday says that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government inherited an economy that was “in a fragile state; public finances were in bad shape; there was economic mismanagement and financial indiscipline; and there was widespread corruption.”Despite the “crisis situation” at the time, the paper said that the BJP government “refrained from bringing out a white paper” because it would have given a “negative narrative and shaken the confidence of all, including investors.”“Now that we have stabilised the economy and set it on a recovery and growth path, it is necessary to place in the public domain the seemingly insurmountable challenges – left behind as a legacy by the UPA government,” it said.Why the White Paper was broughtIn its objectives, the paper said that it seeks to inform MPs and the public about “the nature and extent of governance, economic and fiscal crises that were bequeathed on this government when it assumed office in 2014” and to inform the public about the measures taken by the BJP government to “restore the health of the economy and make it vigorous and capable of fulfilling the growth aspirations of the people in the present and in the Amrit Kaal.”The paper is divided into three parts, titled, “The inheritance of loss”, “Pervasive corruption” and “Rescue of the economy from a state of crisis, despair and paralysis.”The first part titled ‘The Inheritance of Loss’ details how despite inheriting a healthy economy in 2004, the UPA government “made it non-performing” in ten years. This, the paper claims, was done through double-digit inflation, ailing banking sector following excessive lending during the boom phase, and high policy uncertainty that marred India’s business climate.“In 2014, our government inherited a deeply damaged economy whose foundations had to be rebuilt to enable self-sustaining long-term economic growth,” it says.In the second part ‘Pervasive Corruption’, it analyses the corruption scams under the UPA government, including in coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games, 2G telecom, Saradha chit fund, INX media case, Aircel-Maxis, Antrix-Devas Deal, land for jobs, Allotment/Release of Prime Land in Panchkula and Gurgaon, J&K Cricket Association, Embraer Deal, Pilatus Basic Trainer Aircraft, Hawk Aircraft Purchase, Adarsh Housing Society Scam, and the Augusta Westland Helicopter Scam.Apart from the coal block, Commonwealth Games, 2G, J&K cricket association, the paper lists the remaining scams without providing details of the amount of corruption involved.In the third part, titled ‘Rescue of the economy from a state of crisis, despair and paralysis’, the paper says that due to measures taken by the BJP government, India transitioned from “the league of ‘Fragile Five’ to the league of ‘Top Five’ in just about a decade.”While saying that it has gone from being the 10th largest in 2014, it has become the fifth largest in 2023 and adds that “..(but for the pandemic in 2020, we would have become the fifth largest at least two years earlier) and is slated to become the third largest by 2027, as per IMF projections.”‘Amrit Kal has begun’In its conclusion, the paper does a comparative analysis of the UPA and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments and says that in comparison to the 2G and 4G scams under the UPA, India now has the lowest [data] rates and the world’s fastest rollout of 5G in 2023.It also says that in comparison to the Coalgate scam, the Modi government built “systems for transparent and objective auctions for harnessing natural resources to boost the economy and the public finances” and “set up a bullion exchange in GIFT IFSC with a transparent mechanism for import.”With regard to inflation, it states that in comparison to the double-digit inflation under the UPA government, inflation has now been brought down to over 5%.“Then, we had a foreign exchange crisis; now, we have record foreign exchange reserves of over $620 billion,” it adds.The paper concludes that looking back at the past decade, the Modi government has successfully overcome the challenges left behind by the previous government.”“The Amrit Kaal has just begun and our destination is ‘India a developed nation by 2047.’ It is our Kartavya Kaal,” it says.Notably, despite being a lower-middle-income economy, India will have not one but two centi-billionaires – Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani – in 2024. And, this in a country where 800 million people still depend on free food from the government to get by, writes Bloomberg columnist Andy Mukherjee.