{"id":4432,"date":"2025-06-14T16:38:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T11:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/?p=4432"},"modified":"2025-06-14T16:39:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T11:09:36","slug":"open-letter-to-the-pm-why-indias-poor-cant-afford-the-cost-of-your-promises-prof-shivsundar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/?p=4432","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to the PM: Why India\u2019s Poor Can\u2019t Afford the Cost of Your Promises | Prof. Shivsundar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open Letter to the Prime Minister of India:<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cIf Jobs and Incomes Haven\u2019t Risen, How Has Poverty Fallen to 5%?\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

Respected Prime Minister,<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As your government enters its eleventh year, a new narrative is being aggressively circulated: that under your leadership, India has not only united as a nation but has ascended to global spiritual and strategic dominance. While such lofty proclamations are paraded in domestic and international forums, serious questions about governance, truth, and the lived reality of India\u2019s poor remain unanswered.<\/p>\n

Recently, the World Bank and NITI Aayog have both claimed that extreme poverty in India has sharply declined \u2014 now allegedly below 5.3% of the population. These claims were strategically timed: the World Bank\u2019s report came just as your government marked 11 years in office, and NITI Aayog\u2019s similar statement was issued months before the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

But these declarations mask a deeper and more uncomfortable truth: how can poverty be falling when jobs are not being created, incomes have stagnated, and hunger is visibly rising?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Illusion of Progress: A Manufactured Miracle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

From 2011 to 2022, NITI Aayog claims multidimensional poverty dropped from 29% to 11%. However, this coincides with reports of rising rural distress, agricultural stagnation, and jobless growth. NSO\u2019s 2017\u201318 Consumption Survey \u2014 which reportedly showed declining rural consumption for the first time in independent India \u2014 was suppressed<\/strong>. Only aggregated data from the 2022\u201323 survey has been released, with full transparency denied.<\/p>\n

More troublingly, India’s rank in the Global Hunger Index fell from 67 (in 2011) to 105 (in 2023). Can a country where hunger is growing claim that poverty is shrinking?<\/p>\n

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India\u2019s Deepening Inequality: A Tale of Two Nations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your government promised to create 20 million jobs annually. Instead, mechanization, privatization, and corporatization \u2014 particularly of agriculture \u2014 have eliminated existing employment. Workers\u2019 real wages have either stagnated or declined. Meanwhile, inflation has skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

In 2010, a daily wage of \u20b9100 had a certain purchasing power. Today, a wage of \u20b9300 barely meets basic needs. How then can we believe poverty is falling if income hasn’t kept pace with the cost of living?<\/p>\n

Moreover, according to scholar Santosh Mehrotra:<\/p>\n