Institute gross economic mismanagement index: Congress to Centre

The Congress said the Government must not live in denial and accept that inequality is growing and there is a huge income disparity problem that the country is facing. It said the Union Budget should only focus on tackling the growing income disparity between the rich and the poor.

The Indian Express on Monday reported that a survey conducted by a Mumbai-based think tank People’s Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) showed that the annual income of the poorest 20% of Indian households, constantly rising since 1995, plunged 53% in the pandemic year 2020-21 from their levels in 2015-16. And in the same five-year period, the richest 20% saw their annual household income grow 39% reflecting the sharp contrast Covid’s economic impact has had on the bottom of the pyramid and the top.

“The entire country bore the brunt of Covid pandemic but the poor and the middle class are victims of the Modi government’s economic epidemic. The credit for widening the chasm between the rich and the poor goes to the central government,” senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Supriya Srinate said the Oxfam report and PRICE’s ICE360 Survey 2021 show that the deep fissures between the rich and the poor in the country are rapidly widening. “Broadly speaking, 60 percent of India today is earning less than what it was earning five years ago. And survey after another is showing this. So, there must be some truth in how the income divide is widening,” she said.

She said “for the 20 per cent for whom the income has halved…under the Modi government…the same population saw their incomes surge by 183 per cent under the UPA between 2004 and 2014. We had lifted 27 per cent of people out of poverty. And whose income is going up now. The richest 20 per cent are richer by 39 per cent. Their incomes have gone up by 39 per cent,” she said.

The Congress said there is some “deep trouble in the economy” and alleged that the government is focusing only on the rich and the well-heeled and their incomes.

“So, we are suggesting two things – a gross economic mismanagement index should be instituted so that one gets to know how badly mismanaged the Indian economy is. Why is unemployment on the rise, who is price rise affecting the most, why are corporate taxes being cut but the GST…been increased. These are the questions the government must answer,” she said.

“And the forthcoming Union Budget must only focus on bridging the divide between the rich and the poor…increasing money in the hands of the poor, pay attention to how urban poverty is going up manifold…,” she said. The rural poverty has also gone up but lesser because MGNREGA has served the purpose and protected the rural economy, she added.