Terming it a stunt, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that ten years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s “Make in India” initiative has put a break in the country’s manufacturing sector.  

“10 years ago, PM Modi crafted the slogan of “Make in India” and claimed to build Aatmnirbhar Bharat,” Kharge said in his social media post on X.

Launched on September 25, 2014 by PM Modi, the campaign was to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure in the country.

Hitting out at Prime Minister, the Congress chief said, “Contrary to BJP’s high decibel propaganda, India’s Manufacturing sector has got de-industralised due to Modi government’s flop policy initiatives.”

Pointing out five stark facts that made India miss the bus on manufacturing, Kharge said the average growth rate of the manufacturing sector between 2014-15 and 2023-24 is just 3.1% (BJP-NDA) whereas between 2004-05 and 2013-14, the average growth rate was 7.85% (Congress-UPA).

Comparing the Congress-led UPA term with BJP-led NDA term, Kharge said the number of employees in factories grew at 6.2% annually during the Congress-UPA regime, while under Modi government the growth fell spectacularly to just 2.8 per cent.

“Between 2011-12 and 2022, India’s manufacturing sector saw minimal growth in employment, increasing from 6 crore to merely 6.3 crore workers,” Kharge said. He added that the modest addition of 3 lakh jobs annually is insufficient, considering 1.5 crore youth enter the workforce every year.  

Citing an NSO report, the Congress chief said the share of employment in manufacturing accounted for 12.6 per cent of all workers (2011-12). “This declined to 10.9% (2020-21), before recovering a bit to 11.6% (2021-22),” he added.

He also pointed out that the share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has hit an all-time low of just 12.83% (2023), due to Centre’s policies. During the Congress-led UPA government, the same was 15.25% (2013), he compared.  

“PLI schemes have miserably failed in several sectors,” he said.  

The Congress chief said, “Sectors such as high-efficiency solar PV modules, advance chemistry cell (ACC) batteries, textile products, specialty steel, white goods and medical devices have failed to yield the claimed results.”

Most PLI schemes have garnered lukewarm and tepid response from the industry and experts have criticised the schemes for their poor design, lack of clarity and no real value addition, Kharge said.  

“Year after year, Modi government has sold stakes of even profit-making PSUs to PM Modi’s crony friends, thereby breaking the backbone of our Public sector,” Kharge alleged.

Instead of filling vacant government jobs, Modi government has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts, Congress chief Kharge slammed Centre.  

“Casual and contract recruitment in PSU’s has increased by a whopping 91per cent,” he said.  

“SC, ST, OBC posts have decreased by 1.3 lakh (2022-23),” Khage said.  

He said, “Overall there are 40% contractual employees in Indian factories (2021-22), this was just 5% (2013-14) during Congress-UPA.”  

With rampant joblessness, plunging exports and extinguishing savings, Modi government’s glitzy ads on “Make in India” cannot sugarcoat its colossal failures, the Congress chief said.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on Maharashtra Police and said the probe into the killing of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde in a shoot-out should be carried out fairly and impartially.

The High Court said that the shoot-out could have been avoided if the police had tried to overpower Shinde first, adding it was very hard to believe that he managed to seize a pistol from a police officer and open fire.

The court wondered why the accused was shot in the head, and not on hand or legs first. The matter has been posted for further hearing on October 3, by when the police would have to decide on the complaint submitted by Shinde’s father, seeking an FIR against the police officers concerned.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said if it finds that the probe is not being done properly, then it would be constrained to pass appropriate orders.

“The investigation has to be done fairly and impartially. If we find that this is not done, then we would be constrained to pass appropriate orders,” the court said.

The court also directed for all case papers to be immediately handed over to the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID), which would be conducting a probe into Shinde’s death.

“Why are the files not handed over to the CID yet? Preservation of evidence is vital. Any delay on your part would raise doubts and speculations,” the court said.

The court questioned the police’s handling of a shoot-out incident and suggested that it could have been avoided if the police had attempted to subdue the suspect, Shinde, before resorting to lethal force. It also inquired why the police shot the accused in the head instead of aiming at his limbs to incapacitate him.

The HC clarified that it was not casting doubt at this stage but found it difficult to believe that Shinde was able to snatch a pistol from a police officer and use it to open fire. It emphasised that firing a pistol is not an easy task and raised concerns about the sequence of events.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Akshay Shinde’s father, who alleged that his son was a victim of a “fake encounter” by the police on September 24. The petition called for the formation of a special investigation team to look into the incident and urged the high court to oversee the investigation.

Akshay Shinde, 24, was accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls at a school in Badlapur town in Maharashtra’s Thane district.

Malayalam actor Edavela Babu was arrested by Kerala Police on Wednesday in a sexual assault case in the wake of Hema Committee report. However, the actor was later released on bail soon since he had secured anticipatory bail from a district court in Ernakulam earlier this month.

The development comes after a woman actor had filed a complaint against Babu for allegedly sexually assaulting her. She had also filed similar complaints against other actors such as Mukesh, Jayasurya and Maniyanpilla Raju, among others.

Kollam MLA M Mukesh was arrested on Tuesday and released on bail.

Babu has been booked under IPC sections 354 (sexual assault), 376 (rape) and 509 (acts, words, or gestures that intend to insult a woman’s modesty) over a complaint filed by a Kochi-based female actor.

According to the complainant, the incident occurred at Babu’s flat in Kaloor, where she had gone to fill out a form for AMMA membership.

Babu was arrested after three hours of interrogation at the Coastal Police headquarters in Kochi by the SIT led by Coastal AIG G. Poonkuzhal. The actor was later taken to the Ernakulam General Hospital for a medical examination.

He had served as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) for several years. Babu resigned from the post in June of this year.

The allegations of rape against Babu and other prominent figures in the Malayalam film industry surfaced in the wake of the release of the Hema Committee report on the working conditions of women in the industry.

Notable actors such as actor-legislator M Mukesh and Siddique were implicated in these allegations following the report’s publication last month.

The Justice Hema Committee, established by the state government in 2017, presented its report in 2019. However, legal obstacles delayed the public release of the report until recently.