17 July,2024 03:16 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Jairam Ramesh. File Photo
The Congress hit out at the government over "growing economic inequalities" on Wednesday and claimed that every data indicates a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, shared on X a media report that claimed that the difference between the consumption expenditure of the rich and that of the poor is about 10 times.
"The Congress party has been constantly raising the issue that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing in the country," he said.
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Citing the media report, Ramesh pointed out that the monthly consumption expenditure of the top 5 per cent of the rich in urban areas is Rs 20,824, while the monthly consumption expenditure of the poorest 5 per cent of the country's population in rural areas is just Rs 1,373.
"This is new data. But no matter what data you look at, all show evidence of a growing gap between the rich and the poor," Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.
He claimed that more than 40 per cent of the wealth created in the country from 2012 to 2021 has gone to just 1 percent of the population.
"About 64 per cent of the total Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country comes from the poor, lower middle class and middle class," he said.
"Over the past ten years, most of the public assets and resources have been sold to one or two companies; economists have pointed out that growing monopolies in the economy have led to inflation," Ramesh said, reported PTI.
Today, 21 billionaires together have more wealth than 70 crore Indians, he claimed in a post on X.
Sharing the statement of investment in India since 2013, Ramesh wrote on X, "The single most important statistic that explains India's inability to grow faster since 2014 is the sluggish investment rate."
The Congress has been reportedly attacking the government over issues such as rising inequalities, inflation, and unemployment, alleging that its policies are responsible for them.
(With inputs from PTI)
