Left parties today castigated the government for mentioning in the Economic Survey that high inflation was caused by high consumption, terming it "most absurd".

Talking to reporters here, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, "They say that inflation is being caused by increased consumption by people. Blatant contradictions like this are there all over in the Economic Survey."

In the same vein, CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta said, "The statement that high consumption was leading to price rise is most absurd, particularly at a time when poverty is high and there is jobless growth."

Yechury said the Survey "does not generate any confidence that this government is moving towards a more sustainable, more inclusive higher growth trajectory."

Observing that data provided by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) seemed more "realistic", he said, "The estimations in the Survey somehow does not tally with those given to the country by the CSO. We'll have to really examine which is the truth and which is not."

"But going by our experience in our day to day life, I think CSO estimates seem to be more realistic. Given that and a projection of the growth between 6.1 to 6.7 per cent, that is something which is completely untenable."

He said the Survey does not lay out a roadmap for achieving higher growth "because they actually accept the reality that the purchasing power in the hands of the people has declined because of this growing inflation."

Dasgupta said the real conditions in the country were "much more gloomy" than that projected in the Survey.

"Industrial production (growth rate) has slipped from 3.5 to 3.1 per cent, manufacturing sector shows an all-time low of minus 1.9, the growth in GDP has declined abnormally to 3.3, investment has declined by two per cent than last year and domestic savings have also come down by four per cent."

Dasgupta said there was nothing on the impact of the global recession on the Indian economy in the Survey.