‘Intellectual dishonesty’: Congress after Centre claims India is among most equal countries
The Congress on Monday accused the Union government of “scaling new heights of intellectual dishonesty” with its “fraudulent” analysis of World Bank data to claim that India is among the world’s most equal countries.
“By doctoring data, the [Narendra] Modi government cannot simply wish away the stark reality of what is staring us in the face: growing and deepening inequalities, driven by its mindset and policies,” Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said on X.
His remarks came after a Press Information Bureau release published on Saturday cited data from the World Bank to claim that India ranked fourth globally in income equality with a Gini Index of 25.5.
The Gini Index is used to measure income inequality. It ranges in value from 0 to 100, with a score of 0 indicating perfect equality in a country and a score of 100 signifying maximum inequality where wealth is concentrated in fewer hands. The higher the Gini Index, the more unequal the country.
The PIB release claimed that extreme poverty had dropped in India to 2.3% in 2022-’23. “171 million Indians moved out of extreme poverty between 2011–23,” it added.
This interpretation has been criticised as being flawed, as the PIB compared India’s consumption-based Gini Index with the income-based figures of other countries.
Consumption inequality refers to the disparity in spending or consumption...
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