Gujarat near national level in poverty

New Delhi:The expert group headed by former PM’s economic advisory committee chairman C. Rangarajan, which was assigned the task of determining fresh criteria to identify the poor in the country, has revealed that two BJP ruled states, Madhya Pradesh (44 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (47.9 per cent), have among the highest incidences of poverty in percentage terms.

Incidentally, even in Gujarat (27.4 per cent), which was showcased by the BJP as a model state in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the percentage of the poor is fairly close to the national average of 29.5 per cent.

The expert group, which recently submitted its report to the government, revealed that smaller states like Goa (6.3 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (10.9 per cent), Kerala (11.3 per cent) and Haryana (12.5 per cent), are among the better off states, having the least poverty, and are far below the national average.

In terms of absolute numbers of poor people, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are at the top of the list, as these two states have a high density of population.

With 80.9 million people living below the poverty line in Uttar Pradesh, and 43.8 million in Bihar, the poor in the two states together account for over 10 per cent of India’s population.

But in percentage terms, they (Bihar 41.3 and UP 39.8) are below the BJP-ruled states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The ruling BJP has always boasted about Gujarat’s development model, and used it to the hilt in the Lok Sabha polls.

But a close look at the figures provided by the expert group reveals that of the total population of the state, the number of poor is as high as 16.8 million, that is 27.4 per cent, that is very close to the national average of 29.5 per cent.