Congress leader Jairam Ramesh slams the government for falsely claiming that India is now among the most economically equal nations
NEW DELHI — In a sharp political offensive, the main opposition Congress on Sunday lambasted the Narendra Modi-led government for what it called a gross “distortion” of global economic data to project a misleading picture of the country’s economic equality.
At the heart of the row lies the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Brief for India, released in April this year, which the Congress says has been selectively misrepresented by government functionaries to falsely claim that India is now among the most economically equal nations.
In a strongly worded statement, Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, accused the government of cherry-picking data to make the “staggeringly out-of-touch claim” that India is among the most equal societies in the world.
Ramesh’s statement comes after the government spokesperson highlighted poverty reduction by citing the World Bank’s April 2025 report. However, the report painted a far more sobering picture of persistent poverty and rising inequality in the country.
Despite this, government spokespersons and aligned commentators have recently begun promoting a narrative of economic equality—an interpretation Congress says is misleading and detached from ground realities.
“The Modi government’s drumbeaters and cheerleaders have begun spinning the World Bank’s data to make the absurd claim that India is among the most equal societies globally,” said Ramesh.
The Congress cited several alarming findings from the World Bank report.
The top 10% of earners made 13 times more than the bottom 10% in 2023-24, pointing to significant income inequality.
Consumption inequality is likely underestimated due to limitations in sampling and data availability.
Updated poverty metrics, using 2021 purchasing power parity benchmarks, would likely reveal a higher incidence of extreme poverty.
Changes in survey methodology — particularly in the 2022-23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey — make it difficult to compare data over time. These changes came after the government scrapped the previous 2017-18 survey that indicated falling rural consumption.
One of the most crucial findings, Ramesh emphasised, is that under the internationally accepted $3.65/day poverty line (used for lower-middle-income countries), India’s poverty rate stood at a worrying 28.1% in 2022.
“No country with a poverty rate of 28.1% can honestly claim to be one of the world’s most equal societies,” the Congress leader said.
Congress also criticised the Modi government for its lack of transparency and alleged manipulation of data, especially regarding economic indicators. Ramesh referred to the suppression of the 2017-18 Consumption Expenditure Survey as part of a broader pattern of avoiding inconvenient truths.
“The government’s recent track record on data integrity is not inspiring. In fact, blatant data doctoring has become a tool when economic realities don’t match their narrative,” Ramesh charged.
He also blamed the government for failing to define a new poverty line since the Rangarajan Committee’s report in 2014, leaving poverty measurement adrift in an opaque policy environment.
Reiterating the party’s April 2025 stance, the Congress laid out a series of policy demands based on the World Bank report’s findings including immediate increase in MGNREGA wages, inclusion of 10 crore additional people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and immediate conduct of the long-delayed decadal Population Census, now rescheduled for 2027.
The statement also called for structural reforms, including progressive reforms in GST to reduce its regressive impact, ending tax terrorism to stimulate private investment and curtailing corporate favouritism and redirecting support toward household savings and income support.
Ramesh concluded that inequality is no longer an incidental by-product of economic growth, but a defining feature of it under the current regime.
“Sharpening inequality is now firmly embedded in the nature of our economic growth, fuelled by the Modi government’s policies. The widening gap between the privileged few and the dispossessed many can no longer be denied,” he said.
The Congress party’s response underscores growing concerns among economists and opposition leaders about the widening disconnect between official narratives and on-the-ground economic realities, especially for India’s working classes and rural poor. As the country moves toward another election cycle, poverty and inequality are once again emerging as central themes in the national political discourse.
