Jairam Ramesh slams Centre for ‘spinning’ World Bank poverty data, cites 28.1% below poverty line

Jairam Ramesh

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Sunday criticized the central government for allegedly misrepresenting the World Bank's Poverty and Equity Brief for India, which indicates persistent issues with poverty and inequality.

According to Ramesh, 28.1% of the Indian population is currently living below the national poverty line, a statistic he deems deeply concerning. He stated that proponents of the government are inaccurately framing India as "one of the most equal societies,” which he described as a notion that is "staggeringly out-of-touch."

In a post on X, Congress referenced an excerpt from the World Bank report released in April 2025, remarking that the government has attempted to spin the data in its favour.

अप्रैल 2025 में विश्व बैंक ने भारत के लिए अपनी ‘पॉवर्टी एंड इक्विटी ब्रीफ’ जारी की थी।

लेकिन इन आंकड़ों को तोड़-मरोड़कर यह दावा किया जा रहा है कि भारतीय समाज दुनिया के सबसे अधिक समानता वाले समाजों में से एक है।

यह दावा न सिर्फ चौंकाने वाला है, बल्कि ज़मीनी सच्चाई से पूरी तरह… pic.twitter.com/eJMH4CpTvM

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— Congress (@INCIndia) July 6, 2025

Ramesh emphasized that key concerns highlighted in the report remain pertinent and should continue to be addressed seriously. He drew attention to the alarming rise in inequality, noting that in 2023-24, the top decile of income earners earned 13 times more than those in the lowest decile.

Ramesh expressed concerns over the potential masking of poverty and inequality by the government’s data, suggesting that if more current poverty benchmarks were employed, the situation might appear even worse.

He noted the high wage disparity in India and indicated that the median income for the top 10% of earners in 2023-24 significantly outstrips that of the lowest earners.

He cautioned that the government's consumption inequality measures could be underestimated due to sampling and data limitations, asserting that updated methodologies, such as adopting the 2021 purchasing power parity conversion factor, could reveal a higher extreme poverty rate.

The letter stressed that the changes in questionnaire design, survey implementation, and sampling methods in the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2022-23 complicate longitudinal comparisons.

Ramesh pointed out that these alterations followed the government’s rejection of earlier survey iterations that indicated declining consumption levels in rural regions. He stated that for a lower-middle-income country like India, the applicable poverty threshold is $3.65 per day, and by this metric, the poverty rate for 2022 stands significantly high at 28.1%.

Ramesh accused the government of relying on limited and unreliable data along with selective benchmarks to advocate for the narrative that India ranks among the world’s most equitable societies.

He emphasized that, as the data makes abundantly clear, both poverty and inequality remain acutely high. He argued that no nation with a poverty rate of 28.1% can credibly claim to be one of the most equal societies globally.

The letter ultimately highlighted that millions of Indians live just above the international poverty threshold and cautioned that any economic shocks, such as job losses or price increases, could easily regress them into poverty. To support these vulnerable populations, Ramesh called for enhanced investments in welfare programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the National Food Security Act (NFSA) of 2013.

In the April statement, several policy implications were outlined which remain relevant. Ramesh noted the significant discrepancies in poverty lines, underscoring that large segments of the population hover just above the extreme poverty threshold. He advocated for strengthening social welfare frameworks such as MGNREGA and NFSA to bolster their resilience against adverse shocks.

Further, he reiterated the Congress party's longstanding demands, including increased wages under MGNREGA, the timely conduct of the decadal Population Census (now anticipated in 2027), and an expansion of the NFSA to encompass an additional 100 million individuals, all of which take on renewed urgency in light of these statistics.

(With agency inputs)