According to World Bank analysis of data from India's most recent census in 2011, over 21% of the nation's 1.3 billion people lived on less than $1.90 a day.īut a report from the Brookings Institution last year concluded that there's a decline in poverty in India, and that the country is no longer home to the world's most poor. The World Bank defines a person as extremely poor if he or she is living on less than $1.90 a day, which is�adjusted for inflation as well as price differences between countries. Over the past couple of decades, rapid economic growth has allowed India to pull millions of its citizens out of poverty. The plan has been slammed by critics as an unaffordable scheme that remains vague on the important question of where the money will come from.
Under his plan, known as� Nyay (Hindi for justice), the Congress is promising to hand out 6,000 rupees (€77, $85.57) per month each to 50 million poor households, transferred directly to their bank accounts. If you visit the website of the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), the last available large-scale survey data pertain to 2014, just before the present government came to power."įor his part, India's main opposition leader and head of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, has vowed to mount a "final assault on poverty" if voted to power, by giving a guaranteed income to 250 million of the country's poorest citizens. "Over the last five years, the incumbent government has suppressed much of this data. To come out with any precise numbers on poverty, the expert said, one needs reliable household survey data.
This seems like lofty and false speculation in the wake of absent data," he told DW. "His own government has failed to release the relevant data. "It is not at all clear where Finance Minister Jaitley is gathering these numbers," said Vamsi Vakulabharanam, associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Read more:� India, the EU and the hard realities of a post-Brexit worldīut some observers question Jaitley's assertions. "These will add to the number of jobs, and as the experience of the past three decades has�shown in the liberalized economy, every section of citizens will benefit." "Urbanization will increase, the size of the middle class will grow and the economy will expand manifolds," Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Speaking at an election rally recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he's "on a mission to end poverty in the country."įinance Minister Arun Jaitley also stressed that the number of Indians who live in poverty would drop to below 15% in the next three years and to a negligible level in the 10 years after that. Indian PM Modi says he's 'on a mission to end poverty in the country' Image: Reuters/N.
The ruling party has also pledged to upgrade rural roads and improve connectivity between India's villages and cities.
The BJP's manifesto has outlined plans for pulling people out of poverty by promising proper housing by 2022 for those living in mud huts or lacking shelter, and piped water connections to every village household by 2024. Read more:� Trump's trade move could deal a political blow to India's Modi While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried to present a rosy economic picture, touting its efforts over the past five years to improve the well-being of the underprivileged sections of society, the main opposition Congress party has attempted to portray the BJP as a party for the rich. In the runup to the polls, political parties across the country have promised schemes to uplift the lot of the nation's poor.�� India is in the middle of a rancorous general election season in which economic development has once again turned out to be a major issue.