The Congress party has promised to bring more people out of poverty than they exist. “Between 2004 and 2014, 14 crore people were lifted out of poverty,” wrote the party in the manifesto for 2019 general election which is titled as ‘Congress will deliver’. However, the party did not specify what is the measurement of poverty line through which it claimed to bring 14 crore people out of poverty. The World Bank estimates poverty as 1.9 dollar or 130 rupees per day as the poverty line.
The party promised, in its manifesto, to bring another 10 crore people out of the poverty line in the next five years and wipe out poverty by 2030. “Congress promises that between 2019 and 2024, another 10 crore people will be lifted out of poverty and the ground will be prepared to wipe out poverty—and ensure that no one is left behind— by 2030,” wrote the party in the manifesto. However, as per a report published by Brookings Institution, India has only 73 million (7.3 crore) people living in poverty as of May 2018.
Brookings Institution defines poverty as living with less than 1.9 dollars (Approximately 130 rupees) per day, the same definition used by the World Bank. “At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall,” wrote Brookings in its report.
In India, about 44 people come out of extreme poverty every minute, and less than 3 percent Indians will live in poverty by 2022 with extreme poverty being altogether eliminated by 2022, said the Brookings Institution. On the other hand, the Congress party promised to eliminate poverty by 2030.
At the rate of 44 people coming out of poverty every minute, by the time Congress comes to power another 2.3 crore people will be pulled out poverty. So, only 5 crore poor people will be left in the county by May 2019 but, in its manifesto, the Congress party promises to bring 10 crore people out of poverty and eliminate poverty altogether by 2030.
Now Congress should answer that from where it will amass another 5 crore poor people to take the total number of poor to 10 crores. The party also needs to answer that ‘how it will reduce the rate of poverty reduction’ to take another 8 years (Brookings estimate- 2022, Congress- 2030) for complete elimination of poverty.
If Congress comes to power, it will transfer 72,000 rupees to poor families. So 5 crore people translate into 1 crore families and therefore when Congress implements the scheme, a scam of 72,000 crore rupees would take place in the very first year.
The efforts to eliminate the leakage in social security benefits by the Modi government will make sure that the poor in the country get benefited from the government’s developmental programs. The Indian economy is the fastest growing economy in the world and expected to be a $5 trillion economy by 2025. The economic reforms that have become characteristic of the Modi government are expected to propel the GDP growth of the country into double digits. As studies have shown, a nation’s economic growth is helpful in pulling people out of poverty, and if India’s GDP grows at this rate, the country will achieve poverty elimination before 2030, the target set by the United Nations in Sustainable Development Goal.
