Transparent system, people's participation led to poverty decline in last 9 years, asserts PM: Cong slams NITI Aayog report, calls it 'jumla'

 Citing a Niti Aayog report, which highlighted the decline in poverty numbers, Modi said India has presented a model to other countries in helping the poor and has drawn global attention

PTI, 18 January 2024:Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Thursday that a transparent system put in by his government, its honest efforts and emphasis on people's participation have led to nearly 25 crore people being lifted out of poverty in the last nine years.

Nobody could have thought that poverty in India can decline but the poor has shown that it can be if they are given resources, he said in an address during a virtual interaction with beneficiaries of the 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra'.

Citing a Niti Aayog report, which highlighted the decline in poverty numbers, Modi said India has presented a model to other countries in helping the poor and has drawn global attention.

It is a very encouraging report, he said.

Modi said the Yatra has met success beyond his imagination and his government is likely to extend its deadline beyond January 26 due to an increasing demand from the masses that the vehicles meant to publicise welfare schemes and enlist more beneficiaries should visit their places too.

It has become a mass movement in two months and a study will find it as a great example of the last-mile delivery, the prime minister said.

It has already reached 70-80 per cent of panchayats, he said The 'Vikas Rath' has become 'Vishwas Rath', infusing trust among people that no deprived person will be left out of its benefits, he said.

Health check-up of over four crore people have been done during the Yatra and over 2.5 crore screened for TB, he said, adding that over 50 crore 'ayushman' cards have been given to people and while nearly 35 lakh farmers have been included in the 'PM Kisan Yojna'.

These are not merely statistics for him but a source of life as he has always tried to ensure saturation of welfare schemes coverage, he said, stressing on the need for good nutrition, health and treatment for people besides houses with water, cooking gas and power connections.

He noted as to how crores of people have got bank accounts and opportunities to do something on their own.

Over four crore poor families have got a house of their own in the last 10 years and owners of 70 per cent of them are women, which has boosted their empowerment, he said.

The average period to build the house for the poor has come down to nearly 100 days from 300 days earlier, he said.

It is his government's priority to boost rural economy and empower farmers, he said.

"India is changing rapidly. People's self-confidence, trust in government and the resolve to build a new India is visible all round," he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress termed as "jumla" a Niti Aayog report that claimed 24.82 crore people have been moved out of multi-dimensional poverty in nine years to 2022-23, and alleged that the government was hatching a "conspiracy" to exclude these people from the safety net of welfare schemes and free ration. 

The Congress' attack came a day after the report said as many as 24.82 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in nine years to 2022-23, with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh registering the largest decline. 

According to the NITI discussion paper, multidimensional poverty in India declined from 29.17 per cent in 2013-14 to 11.28 per cent in 2022-23, showing a reduction of 17.89 percentage points, with about 24.82 crore people moving out of the bracket during this period. 

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson and social media department head Supriya Shrinate said the claim that 24.84 crore people have been moved out of multidimensional poverty was the "latest jumla in a list of jumlas" that will be seen up until election. 

"The truth cannot be further away from this and the reality is how NITI Aayog has arrived at these numbers -- it has changed the established criteria of how poverty is calculated and neither the World Bank nor the IMF have cited any third party stories on it," she said. 

"It was a report prepared by the NITI Aayog, a survey done by them and reported by them ut the reality on the ground is extremely stark," she said, adding that the figures were nothing but "blatant lies of the BJP ecosystem". 

The survey essentially establishes there is no unemployment on the ground when the reality is that there are high prices, unemployment, income inequality, lower wages and extreme poverty. "Reality of these numbers is that there is a conspiracy being hatched against the poor of this country, because very soon close to 25 crore people who have now been declared 'not poor' will be taken out of the safety net that the government offers to the poor. 

"They will no longer get subsidies, no longer get free ration, they will be taken out of the safety net that any welfare sate offers to the poor people that is the conspiracy we are worried about," Shrinate said. She said the Modi government has released a "new balloon" and it is being peddled that in the last nine years, 24.82 crore Indians have been freed from poverty, but in reality this is a "huge conspiracy" against the poor. 

This claim of the government is contrary to the ground reality with four major problems in it, the Congress spokesperson claimed. If the number of poor has decreased, then why is consumption declining, she asked.