The Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi is nearing invincibility by transmogrifying himself at every stage again and again over the past decades. He has taken this transition as a Vikas Purush- the development man building a Gujarat Model since 2007. Since the under-appreciated shift Narendra Modi is today known as a Garibon ka Neta- retaining his elements of his two avatars.
The latest Yojana in the marketing bump is #Poverty. With the hundreds of scheme introduced in the name of poor since 70 years of independence, there is a whole umbrella shed with instant divinity leader who pledges to never evolve with any other poverty eradication plan since real poverty is swiped out.
HE SPARED THOUGHT FOR THE POOR
The ‘neo-middle’ class was much talked about when Modi Government took power with a hope to figure out how it was going to propel the expansion that the country has witnessed. But if you take a look at the real life story the lower middle class are more precarious with the passage of time. A health crisis can tip a family with much spent on public health and education, pulling them backwards into poverty.
In 2007 $1 Trillion mark hit Indian economy which has taken just a decade to double its size- yet we are the homes of worlds’ poor. As per a report submitted by the Asian Development Bank, in 2015 21.9 percent Indians lived below poverty line and what’s more shocking is 18 percent of employed group live below poverty line. Just give it a thought.
A report submitted by ADB- Centennial Group “an affluent society in one generation “described India as a growth marathoner rather than a sprinter. It is an enormous challenge to put in place the policy framework moving consistently from poverty to affluence generation wise. With Modi Ji hoping to come in for second term in 2024, India might eradicate poverty in next 15 years to maintain the annual growth of 8.5 percent.
The single minded pursuit of socio-economic objective irrespective of governments’ power is the major difference between a marathoner and sprinter. Our politicians are more pre occupied with vote banks accumulation and it will be difficult to find measurable success in moving a section of population from historic to economic betterment irrespective of the class factor. In India the dominance of government is heavy in all economic activities. We are not good in creating an economic balance between the short and medium term, since the economic policy is skewed towards upper middle class and the rich people.
Around 680 million of Indians lack the means to match upto the minimum scale of living , and with Indias’ slow economic growth to continue around 480 million would be under Empowerment Line in 2022. It is also likely that 56 percent of Indians are drudging to meet all the basic needs – this proves that millions of lives are spent under such hardship – let us wish and work so that none of this is held true.
