Poverty decreased rapidly and income increased in villages

- Dr. Jayantilal Bhandari

Various economic research reports related to poverty in India being published these days are highlighting the fact that poverty is decreasing rapidly in villages in India as compared to cities and income and purchasing power are also increasing rapidly. Recently, a report on poverty released by State Bank of India ( SBI ) Research said The view is that poverty reduction is due primarily to the positive effects of government support programmes and growth that directly benefit the poor . Poverty reduction has happened more rapidly in rural areas than in urban areas. While rural poverty was 25.7 percent and urban poverty was 13.7 percent in the year 2011-12 , rural poverty will come down to 4.86 percent and urban poverty will come down to 4.09 percent in the year 2023-24. According to this report, due to increase in income in the last 14 years, while the per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) has increased 3.5 times in cities every month, it has increased almost four times in rural areas. Between the year 2009-10 and 2023-24, MPCE in urban areas increased from Rs 1984 to Rs 6996 and in rural areas this expenditure increased from Rs 1054 to Rs 4122. In such a situation, the growth of villages is more than that of cities .

It is worth noting that on January 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Rural India Festival 2025, said that rural poverty in the country is decreasing rapidly. It has come down to less than five percent in the last year 2024. Along with this, the income and purchasing power of the villagers have increased. Modi said that today lakhs of households in villages are getting clean drinking water. People are getting better health services from 1.5 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. Today, with the help of digital technology, the best doctors and hospitals are also getting connected to the villages. Through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, the country is providing financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh crore to farmers. In the last 10 years, agricultural loans have increased by three and a half times. Now, farmer credit cards are also being given to animal breeders and fish farmers. In the last 10 years, the subsidy given on crops and the amount of crop insurance has been increased. Campaigns like Swamitva Yojana have been run , through which property documents are being given to the people of the village. The youth of the village are being helped through schemes like Mudra Yojana , Startup India , Stand Up India .

There is no doubt that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana The free food grain program to more than 80 crore poor and weaker sections of the society under ( PMGKAY ) has played an important role in reducing their poverty . The government has ensured that the poor will be given free food grains till 2028 under PMGKAY . There is no doubt that the role of Public Distribution System (PDS) has been made effective in systematically distributing free food grains to the poor and weaker sections of the society in the country. Free food grains are distributed through more than five lakh fair price shops present across the country . It is important to note that since the year Leakage has reduced since the introduction of Point of Sale (POS) machines in ration shops since 2016. Based on the consumption numbers of the year 2011-12 , the Shanta Kumar Committee had said that there is about 46 percent leakage in the PDS system. At present, this leakage has reduced to 28 percent. Due to digitization of ration cards, more than 5 crore 80 lakh ration cards found to be fake have been canceled so far after verification through Aadhaar and eKYC (Know Your Customer) system to make the Public Distribution System (PDS) more effective in the country .

It is also important that Digital India , toilets, clean drinking water and Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana for clean fuel, Saubhagya Yojana for electricity in all houses campaigns are reducing poverty in the country. Especially around 5 4 More than crore Jan Dhan accounts (J) , around 13 8 crore Aadhaar cards (A) , and around 115 The unmatched digital infrastructure of JAM, powered by over 100 million mobile subscribers (M) , is playing an extraordinary role in empowering the poor . With the help of this JAM , financial relief is being transferred directly into the accounts of the poor people of the country. From 2014 to 2024, more than Rs 40 lakh crore has been deposited directly into the accounts of beneficiaries through DBT. All this has led to a huge reduction in poverty and rural India has been particularly benefited.

It is also noteworthy that various global reports are presenting analyses of poverty reduction and increase in productivity of the poor due to empowerment and development of the poor in India. The Global Poverty Report 2024 published by the World Bank states that the number of extremely poor people in India was 43.1 crores in 1990. This number decreased to 16.74 crores in 2021 and remained at around 12.9 crores in 2024. Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) 2024 based on globally recognized parameters by NITI Aayog according to the In the past ten years, about 25 Millions of people have come out of the purview of multidimensional poverty. Thomas Piketty, a world-renowned economist and co-founder of the World Inequality Database, says that the rapid development in India is increasing the income of the common man and a trend of rapid reduction in poverty is emerging.

We hope that in the new year 2025, the government will move forward with new schemes and new strategic efforts along with effective implementation of the schemes for empowerment of the poor currently in force in the country to further reduce poverty from the country. Also, in this perspective, the government is working on the goal of bringing out more than 15 crore poor people facing multidimensional poverty in the country out of poverty by the year 2030. The government will pay full attention to this. We hope that the government will take forward the strategic campaign of empowerment through employment by equipping the youth, especially those from rural poverty-stricken families, with skill training and digital skills. We also hope that the government will move forward on the path of further strengthening rural economies in the perspective of self-reliant rural India for Developed India 2047 , this will also lead to a rapid increase in the income of the villagers and this will further reduce rural poverty .

( The author is a renowned economist.)

Dr. Jayantilal Bhandari- 111, Gumasta Nagar , Indore- 9  Mo. 9425478705 ( Phone- 0731 2482060, 2480090)