Over 170 million lifted above poverty line in India, Modi government and Congress claim credit

NEW DELHI: The World Bank’s recent report shows a significant drop in extreme poverty in India, with the government and opposition Congress both claiming credit for the improvement, as over 170 million people moved above the poverty line between 2011-12 and 2022-23.

According to a World Bank report, extreme poverty (defined as living on less than USD 2.15 per day) decreased from 16.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.3 per cent in 2022-23, lifting 171 million people in India above this threshold.

The government views this as an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims regarding poverty reduction. Citing the World Bank report, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released a statement saying that the Poverty and Equity Brief from the multilateral bank was an acknowledgement of India’s “decisive fight” against poverty.

“This achievement is a testament to the Government of India’s commitment to inclusive development, focusing on both rural and urban areas. Through targeted welfare schemes, economic reforms, and increased access to essential services, India has made substantial strides in reducing poverty levels,” the government said in the statement on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh attributed this success to the economic reforms of 1991 and several social welfare interventions developed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government during 2004-14.

“The most important intervention is the MGNREGA, 2005, which has effectively set a floor on the annual income for crores of families, acting as a safety net to keep families out of poverty, and the National Food Security Act, 2013, that provides the foundation for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY),” Jairam Ramesh, General Secretary (Communications) of Congress, said in the statement.

“As per calculations based on the international poverty line (USD 2.15/day), poverty has continued its downward trend in recent years to reach extremely low levels. This reflects the success of India’s growth story, which began with liberalisation in June 1991 and which has since taken a momentum of its own – and that of several social welfare interventions developed by Dr Manmohan Singh’s Government during 2004-14,” the Congress veteran added.

The World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Brief report, released earlier this week, revealed that rural extreme poverty dropped from 18.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent, and urban extreme poverty fell from 10.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent, narrowing the rural-urban gap from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points–a 16 per cent annual decline.

Using the USD 3.65 per day lower-middle-income category poverty line, poverty dropped from 61.8 per cent to 28.1 per cent, lifting 378 million people out of poverty.

Rural poverty fell from 69 per cent to 32.5 per cent, and urban poverty dropped from 43.5 per cent to 17.2 per cent, reducing the rural-urban gap from 25 to 15 percentage points with a 7 per cent annual decline.

The five most populous states–Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh–accounted for 65 per cent of the country’s extreme poor in 2011-12 and contributed to two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23. (ANI)