Only 5% of Indians are poor, says NITI Aayog; Congress alleges ‘data distortion’

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday strongly disputed the NITI Aayog claims on poverty in the country that only five per cent of people were poor. The party said these ‘fictitious figures’ were deliberately being dished out to set a particular narrative that was far from the truth and reality.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, the party spokesperson and chairperson of Social Media and Digital Platforms Supriya Shrinate pointed out, that even this report has the ‘devil in the details.’

What does NITI Aayog say about class disparity?

According to this report, the bottom 5 per cent of Indians survive on just Rs 46 daily for food, clothing, medicine, education and transportation.

The report points to the widening gap between the poor and rich and between urban and rural India. According to the report, 5 per cent richest people in rural India spend eight times more than the poorest 5 per cent. In urban India, the richest 5 per cent spend 10 times more than the poorest 5 per cent.

According to the NITI Aayog figures, there are only 5 per cent who are poor, which makes it seven crores. While welcoming the free ration to the poor, she asked, “If only seven crore Indians are poor, why does the government then need to provide free ration to 81 crore Indians?” Even this, she pointed out, was possible because of the Food Security Act brought in by the UPA.

Inconsistency in NITI Aayog data, says Congress

The Congress spokesperson said in the last six months, the NITI Aayog had given three different figures on three different occasions. She pointed out, that in July 2023, the NITI Ayog said that 19.28 per cent of people were poor and a few weeks ago it said, that 11 per cent of people in the country were poor and now it claims that only 5 per cent of people in the country are poor.

She warned that when the economic data is distorted like this, the credibility of the data gets questioned and the investments get stopped. She asked why the Modi government was distorting the economic data.

‘BJP distorting data’

Supriya Shrinate said, much against the rosy picture being sought to be created by distorting the data: the actual truth is that as many as 7 crore Indians are made to live on a paltry Rs 46 per day in which they have to manage food, clothing, transport, medicines and education of their children.

Referring to the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the country, she disclosed that the five per cent richest in the urban areas spend ten times more than the five per cent poorest in the urban areas, while the five per cent richest in the rural areas spend eight times more than the five per cent poorest there. She asked, why the Modi government was not making any efforts to bridge this widening gap between the rich and the poor.

‘Savings, vehicles sales come down under NDA’

Referring to the declining purchasing capacity of the people in the country, she said, 35 crore Indians were not in a position to even afford a two-wheeler or a car. She disclosed that the growth of the two-wheeler sales has come to 0.7 per cent from nine per cent during the UPA regime.

Supriya Shrinate said the savings have also fallen under the NDA government. She said the percentage of savings has come down to 5.1 per cent of the GDP as compared to 11.5 per cent earlier. She said, people were spending more not because they had more purchasing power, but only because of the rising prices.

She said that India was continuously dipping on the hunger index as 7.7 per cent of children were malnourished.