NEW DELHI, Feb 27: Targeting the Centre for releasing an \u201celection-inspired\u201d Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Tuesday demanded a census be conducted soon for accurate information, insisting it should also incorporate a caste survey.
In a post on \u2018X\u2019 in Hindi, Kharge said that after 10 years of \u201cdeep sleep\u201d, the Modi government has finally come out with an \u201celection-inspired\u201d survey on public expenditure and income.
\u201cThe Modi government has made an unsuccessful attempt to pat itself on the back in the survey,\u201d he said.
\u201cWe have only one demand, for correct information, the Census of 2021 should be done as soon as possible and a caste census should be a part of it. The Congress party will definitely get it done as soon as its government is formed,\u201d the Congress chief added.
Kharge said if everything in the country was so shiny as is being shown in the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, why the poorest five per cent of rural India was spending only Rs 46 daily.
\u201cWhy did the poorest five per cent of families get the least benefit from government schemes \u2013 only Rs 68\/month? Did the capitalist friends get the remaining benefits?
\u201cWhy is the monthly income of farmers less than the average income of rural India? Why has the fuel expenditure of rural families reduced by only 1.5 per cent while the Modi government continues to boast of the success of the Ujjwala scheme,\u201d the Congress leader asked.
\u201cCiting the survey report, NITI Aayog officials are saying poverty in India is now only five per cent, but according to another report of the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index of the same NITI Aayog, the poverty figure is 11.28 per cent,\u201d Kharge said.
Noting that both the surveys are for 2022-23, he asked, \u201cWhy is the Modi government making fun of the poor?\u201d
\u201cModi ji, please do not lower the reputation of India\u2019s universally recognised data collection and surveys\u2026,\u201d he added.
According to Kharge, experts say the government can change the criteria for measuring food inflation data from this survey. \u201cIs this not an attempt to hide back-breaking inflation with fake data,\u201d he asked.
Kharge also asked, \u201cIs it not true that the Modi government admitted in a PIB press release that the Advisory Committee \u2013\u201d National Accounts Statistics rejected its suggestion of changing the base year of GDP to 2017-18 and why so?\u201d
\u201cDid the Modi government want to take electoral advantage of the GDP Base Year and hide the real facts,\u201d he added.
Kharge claimed that the surprising thing is that the nomination of this Household Consumption Expenditure Survey should have been the 69th Round or the 70th Round, but which round is this survey named after, that has deliberately been kept ambiguous.
This has been done so that manipulation of data goes undetected, he alleged. (Agencies)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI, Feb 27: Targeting the Centre for releasing an \u201celection-inspired\u201d Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Tuesday demanded a census be conducted soon for accurate information, insisting it should also incorporate a caste survey.In a post on \u2018X\u2019 in Hindi, Kharge said that after 10 years of \u201cdeep sleep\u201d, the Modi government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n