Inconvenient data brushed aside: Congress slams govt after World Bank says extreme poverty in India declined

New Delhi: The Modi government is celebrating a drop in extreme poverty to 5.3% but this is based on a poverty line of $3 per day which is certainly not enough to live with dignity, the Congress said on Tuesday and accused the Centre of brushing aside "inconvenient data".

The opposition party's assertion came after the World Bank said India's extreme poverty rate declined sharply to 5.3 per cent over a decade from 27.1 per cent in 2011-12.

The World Bank revised upwards its threshold poverty line to $3 per day. Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, "The Modi government is celebrating a drop in extreme poverty to 5.3 per cent. But this is based on a poverty line of $3 (Rs 250) per day - just enough to avoid starvation, but certainly not enough to live with dignity." The 2022-23 Consumption Expenditure Survey, conducted after an 11-year gap, came with a revised methodology -- making direct comparisons with the UPA-era data appear favourable, but statistically invalid, Khera said.

"The 2017-18 survey was buried, likely to hide the fallout of demonetisation and GST. COVID-era poverty? Ignored," he said.

Meanwhile, the Modi government evaded Parliament on defining an official poverty line and ignored over 15 questions related to it, Khera claimed.

"Their claim of lifting over 25 crore people out of poverty is based on a manipulated index. CMIE data shows 621 million Indians (44 per cent) still live in poverty. On the Global Hunger Index, India ranks 105th, with 18.7 per cent child wasting and 35.5 per cent stunting," Khera said.

He pointed out that on the World Happiness Report, India sits at 118th, and on the Human Development Index, India loses over 30% of its score due to inequality.

"All this is inconvenient data. So, it is brushed aside. In the end, the poor are left to endure inflation, unemployment, a steady collapse of public services and declining quality of life while the ruling party's crony capitalist friends loot thousands of crores with absolute impunity," Khera said.

"This is the story of two India: One that suffers, and the other that cashes in," he added.

The World Bank, in a report, said given India's inflation rate between 2017 and 2021, a revised extreme poverty line of USD 3 would constitute a 15 per cent higher threshold than $2.15 expressed in 2021 prices and result in a 5.3 per cent poverty rate in 2022-23.

As against 34 crore people below poverty line ($3/per day) in 2011-12, the numbers have come down to 7.5 crore in 2022-23 in absolute numbers.

The World Bank has announced a major revision to global poverty estimates, raising the International Poverty Line (IPL) from USD 2.15/day (2017 PPP) to $3/day (2021 PPP), according to a factsheet issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the report.

"While the change led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India emerged as a statistical outlier in a positive direction. Using more refined data and updated survey methods, India not only withstood the raised threshold but also demonstrated a massive reduction in poverty," the PIB said in its factsheet details issued on Saturday.