Is poverty really decreasing in india or is it just a game?
According to a research by SBI, there has been a huge decline in rural poverty. While 25.7% people were below the poverty line in 2011-12, this figure has come down to 4.86% in march 2024. Urban poverty has also come down from 13.7% to 4.09%. Has poverty really reduced so fast or is it just a game of numbers? The government claims that poverty has reduced due to its schemes. But is this really the ground reality? Is it not that the poverty line itself has been changed, so that fewer people appear poor?
What does SBI's research report say?
Based on the data of 2023-24, poverty is 4.86% in villages and 4.09% in cities. This is much lower than the estimates of 2023, when poverty was 7.2% in villages and 4.6% in cities. Poverty has also decreased in cities. 4.09% in 2024, 4.6% in 2023 and 13.7% in 2011-12. Overall, poverty in india is now between 4-4.5%.
The report says that due to better roads, bridges and transport facilities in villages, the movement of people is increasing. This is reducing the income gap between villages and cities and the gap between the rich and the poor is also being bridged in villages.
If we compare per capita expenditure in villages and cities, then this difference was 88.2% in 2009-10, which has now come down to 69.7%. The main reason for this is the schemes run by the government, such as sending money directly to bank accounts, building roads and other facilities in villages, increasing the income of farmers and improving rural life.
According to estimates, rising inflation in low-income states has a greater impact on people's spending. This means that people in villages in low-income states spend more carefully. According to the new data, the inflation rate in november 2024 will be 5.0% instead of 5.5%. In most rich states, the savings rate is higher than the national average (31%). The savings rate is low in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, perhaps because many people from there go to work in other states.
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