Congress questions '250 million out of poverty' claim

Congress on Thursday questioned the Modi government's claim that 250 million people in the country were alleviated from poverty in the last nine years. If the claim was right, why did not the consumption rate increase and why did the Centre still provide free food to crores of people, the main Opposition party asked.

Disputing the projection and pointing out that private consumption growth had slowed down to 4.4% this fiscal, compared to 7.1% last fiscal, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that the government claim on decreasing poverty could be a "conspiracy to deny poor the safety net" provided by the government.

Questioning Niti Ayog's finding that 248.2 million people were brought out of poverty, she said: "Why are these people not consuming daily essential items like soap, shampoo, oil and biscuits? Why are companies like HUL, ITC and Britannia reporting muted sales. Why does the government still need to provide free food to 80 crore Indians?"


Shrinate said that the Niti Ayog report had not been endorsed by a third party such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. "It was all done by Niti Ayog, including the survey, preparation of the report and its circulation for Modi and his followers to make huge claims. We don't know the sample size or who was surveyed."