DEHRADUN: Former finance minister

said on Saturday that “demonetisation and badly-conceived GST have destroyed the micro, small and medium industry (MSME) as well as the informal industry sector in the country and its effects are now showing in the economy as well.”

The veteran leader made these remarks during a session on the second day of the

Dehradun

Literature Festival in which his autobiography ‘Relentless’ was discussed. Speaking at the session, Sinha alleged that “demonetisation and the faulty execution of GST are to be blamed for the collapse of the construction and real estate sector.” “There is a study which says that the Indian economy in wake of demonetisation had declined by 2.5 %,” Sinha claimed.

He also attacked the Modi government for “manipulating facts and figures.” “Numbers are being juggled to give an impression to people that everything is hunky-dory.”

Commenting on the state of opposition in the country, Sinha said: “French philosopher Joseph de Maistre had said that a country gets the government it deserves and I have added to this that a country gets the opposition it deserves. In India, the opposition has completely collapsed.”

In the other notable session of the day, Delhi government’s education minister

spoke about the challenges of empowering government schools, training teachers as well as making the syllabus better. “It is unfortunate that government school teachers are treated just as any other employee. Their job is mainly to educate children and this has to be understood,” Sisodia said adding that the Delhi government has worked on the skill development and training of over 60,000 teachers.

Former Union minister Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (retired) during his session spoke about the importance of hard work and knowledge in achieving one’s dreams. Sessions featuring film director Imtiaz Ali and Osho disciple

were the other highlights of the day.