Two trekkers, one of them a woman, died during an outing in Himachal Pradesh’s Bir Billing. For two days, a German Shepherd dog accompanying them remained beside the bodies and kept barking till they were found on Tuesday, nearly 48 hours after they went missing.

The dead trekkers have been identified as Abhinandan Gupta (30) from Punjab’s Pathankot and Pranita Wala (26) from Pune. The two appear to have died after a fall, but authorities said the post-mortem would confirm the cause of death.

Bir Billing, located at an altitude of 5,000 feet, is a favoured destination for treks and paragliding. Kangra district police chief Veer Bahadur said Gupta had been living in the area for the past four years for paragliding and trekking activities. The woman, he said, arrived from Pune a few days back and had set out after a round of snowfall. “The preliminary probe has found that a group of four people, two of them women, set out in a car. When the car could not proceed beyond a point, they started walking. As the weather changed, two people in the group backed off and returned to safety with the help of others there. But Gupta reportedly said that he knows the route and he, Pranita and the dog went on their way,” the officer said.

The others part of the group had registered a missing complaint after Gupta and Wala did not return for a long time. Soon after, a search party was sent to look for them.

One of the members in the rescue team said they put two teams in action. The bodies were located three kilometres below the point from where paragliders take off.

“This is a steep area and turns very slippery during snowfall. It appears they slipped and fell. They managed to get up once, but slipped again,” he said. As he spoke, the German Shepherd kept barking and wailing next to the bodies. The bodies have been handed over to the families after autopsy.

Senior police officer Bahadur had a message for tourists. “The Kangra district is receiving heavy snowfall and the weather is changing swiftly. So any tourist venturing out must be accompanied by a local resident or a guide who has knowledge about this area. Tracks get covered in snow and it is not possible for tourists to figure out the route.” He said phones are of no use due to poor connectivity in the area. “Avoid going out, the weather is poor,” he added.

The UPA government had “inherited a healthy economy but made it non-performing in 10 years,” the Centre said in its comparative White Paper on the 10 years of the UPA and the decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In an all-out attack on the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in summer, the Centre accused the UPA government that went out of office in 2014, of “mismanagement and short-sighted handling of the public finances… and undermining the macroeconomic foundations”.

The government abandoned the principles that brought about the economic liberalisation. There was economic mismanagement and financial indiscipline, and there was widespread corruption, the Centre has said, slamming the Manmohan Singh government on a day he finishes his Rajya Sabha tenure.

“In 2004, when the UPA government began its term, the economy was growing at 8 per cent (with industry and services sector growth above 7 per cent each and a resuscitating agriculture sector growth above 9 per cent in FY04) amidst a benign world economic environment,” read the White Paper tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament this evening.

But instead of taking the reforms further and consolidating the gains, the UPA only took credit for the high growth brought about by the “lagged effects of the reforms of the NDA government and favourable global conditions”.

Having created a huge fiscal deficit, the UPA government borrowed heavily from outside but used the funds in an unproductive manner. Infrastructure was neglected and social sector schemes were laden with unspent funds.

The White Paper said the average annual inflation rate between 2004 and 2014 was around 8.2% and accused the UPA of doing nothing to contain the high inflation.

The government on Thursday presented a white paper that accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance of leaving the economy in “bad shape, nay crisis” after 10 years of the Manmohan Singh government. The document claimed the UPA inherited a “healthy economy” from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government but left the Narendra Modi administration a “non-performing” economy.

The white paper – tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament – comes weeks before a general election the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to win.

In it, the BJP said it faced a “hydra-headed challenge” in fixing the Indian economy and “restoring its fundamentals to sound health”, noting it received one of the world’s more fragile economies. “… now, we are among the ‘top five’ (and) making the third highest contribution to global growth…”

“Then, the world lost confidence in India’s economic potential and dynamism. Now, with our economic stability and growth prospects, we inspire hope in others. Then, we had a scam-riddled 12-day Commonwealth Games. Now, we successfully hosted a far-bigger and year-long G20 Presidency in 2023, showcasing India at its best… (and) providing acceptable solutions to global problems.”

READ | “UPA Made Economy Non-Performing In 10 Years”: Centre’s White Paper

The white paper referred to a number of scams and corruption cases that marked the 10 years of the UPA government, including the 2G and Coalgate scandals, as well as economic concerns like double-digit inflation, the foreign exchange crisis, and a “policy paralysis” that affected investment.

“Then, we had 2G scam. Now, we have extensive coverage of the population under 4G, with the lowest rates and the world’s fastest rollout of 5G in 2023. Then, we had the Coalgate scam. Now, we have built systems for transparent and objective auctions to harness natural resources…”

READ | Full Text Of Government’s White Paper On UPA’s “Economic Mismanagement”

“Then, we had double-digit inflation. Now, inflation has been brought down to (a) little over five per cent. Then, we had a foreign exchange crisis. Now, we have record foreign exchange reserves of over USD 620 billion. Then, we had ‘policy-paralysis’; infrastructure was not a priority. Now, (there is) the virtuous cycle of investment, growth, employment and entrepreneurship, and savings…”

READ | “UPA’s Term Replete With Decision Stasis Examples”: What White Paper Says

“In sum, the progress achieved in the ten years of our government has overcome the malaise and paralysis of the previous ten years of the UPA government. In 2024, confidence and purpose have replaced the diffidence and drift of 2014…” the BJP’s white paper declared.

The white paper was announced by Ms Sitharaman last week, when she presented the interim budget. The combative Finance Minister said “this is the right time” to present the document.

“In 2014, we took over an economy in such a bad state. There was economic paralysis and corruption… we needed a white paper then. But at the time Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) put the people first,” she said in Parliament.

Ms Sitharaman’s announcement was “welcomed” by the Congress’ P Chidambaram, who was Finance Minister in the Manmohan Singh government from 2012 to 2014. “We are not afraid…” he said.

Mr Chidambaram, however, said he had only one condition – the paper must be written by an independent body, one not affiliated with either the BJP or the Congress, or any government agency.

“Then let us see whose performance is better…” he told a news channel.

READ | White Paper Vs Black As BJP, Congress Spar Over 10-Year Performance

Meanwhile, the Congress today hit back with a ‘white paper’ of its own – only they called it a ‘black paper‘. Released by party boss Mallikarjun Kharge, the document flagged increasing unemployment, a drop in the average GDP growth rate, and vacant government posts in the Modi administration.

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