New Delhi:IMF has brought out a working paper on poverty estimates in India. It has been prepared by Bhalla, Bhasin and Virmani. In this, estimates have been expressed on the basis of different assumptions. One of these estimates looks the most optimistic. It has been said that only 0.86 percent i.e. 1.2 crore people in the country have come out of dire poverty. It is based on the World Bank’s consumption poverty line. In this, the daily consumption of $ 1.9 has been measured. Should it be praised? If yes, how much credit goes to BJP for this? Listing estimates of all research papers can be a boring task. But one thing is clear from all the research that the economic reforms of 1991 have accelerated GDP growth and this has helped in reducing poverty. Obviously, rapid growth is the best way to eradicate poverty. The debate on statistics continues in India. According to a study by the World Bank last year, there was 22.5 percent poverty in 2011, which decreased to 10.2 percent in 2019. This figure does not match with the data of the IMF. America’s well-known blogger-economist Noah Smith has tweeted a chart citing a chart from the World Poverty Clock and The Washington Post. According to this, there has been a huge decline in poverty in India in six years. In 2016, the population of the poor was 12.4 crores, which has reduced to 1.5 crores in 2022. I was preparing to protest when Smith himself tweeted some more charts. In these, different estimates of poverty were made according to different assumptions.
Swaminomics: With increasing income, Xi Jinping will have to change his China model
who will get the credit
In a long chart, the 2017 poverty line of $2.15 was made the basis. According to this, the number of poor in the country was 47.6 percent in 1993, which has come down to 10 percent in 2019. During this period, there has been a steady decline in the estimation of poverty, irrespective of the party’s government. For this both Congress and BJP can take credit. When Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister in 2004, the poverty in the country was 39.9 percent and in 2014 it was reduced to 18.7 percent. The decline in poverty continued even after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. In 2019, it came down to 10 per cent.
Click here to read full article
