New Delhi. The Congress on Sunday claimed that slow wage growth and “backbreaking” inflation have led to an unprecedented fall in real household incomes and said that like the “ostrich proverb”, the government is turning a blind eye to the most fundamental challenge facing the Indian economy.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that a new report by a well-known brokerage company has once again brought to the fore the truth that the Central Government has been constantly denying: real household income in India is continuously declining. He said in a statement, “Due to slow wage growth and backbreaking inflation, real wages (wages adjusted for inflation) or say income have fallen unprecedentedly.” Ramesh said that several surveys and data, including the Annual Survey of Unregistered Industries (ASUSE), Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS data and Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (HCES), have shown financial crisis among working Indians.
He said that several sources of data, including the government’s own official data, have also shown clear evidence that the purchasing power of workers has decreased today compared to 10 years ago. The Congress leader said, “Labor Bureau’s Wage Rate Index (Government Data): The real wages of workers remained stagnant between 2014-2023 and declined between 2019-2024. Agriculture Ministry’s Agricultural Statistics (Government Data): During Dr. Manmohan Singh’s tenure, the real wages of agricultural laborers increased at the rate of 6.8 percent every year. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure, the real wages of agricultural laborers fell by 1.3 percent below zero every year.”
Ramesh, citing the Periodic Labour Force Survey Series (government data), said that over time, average real earnings have stagnated across all types of employment – salaried workers, unorganised sector workers and self-employed workers – between 2017 and 2022. He quoted the Centre for Labour Research and Action as saying that the real wages of brick kiln workers have either stagnated or declined between 2014 and 2022.
He said brick kilns are labour-intensive and are a low-wage last resort for India’s poorest people.
The senior Congress leader said, “In my intervention on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha on August 8, 2024, I asked the non-biological Prime Minister and his ministers four direct questions on the state of the economy.” He said, “The non-biological Prime Minister has not yet broken his silence on these, so it is appropriate to repeat them: Why has private investment remained sluggish? Why has the share of the private sector in overall investment fallen to the lowest level in four years?”
“Why is consumption growth so weak? And why did private final consumption expenditure – the biggest component of GDP – grow by only around four per cent in FY14?” he asked. Why are real wages and incomes stagnant or declining, Ramesh asked. “Why has manufacturing as a percentage of GDP fallen from 16.5 per cent during the UPA regime to 14.5 per cent now? Why has this decline been particularly sharp in labour-intensive manufacturing sectors like textiles? Why has India’s textile exports fallen from $15 billion in 2013-14 to $14.5 billion in 2023-24?” “The Union Budget has come and gone but, like the ostrich proverb, the non-biological Prime Minister and his government have turned a blind eye to the most fundamental challenge facing the Indian economy,” the Congress leader said. Bhasha Gola Vaibhav
Congress takes a dig at Shah over his remarks on census
The Congress on Sunday took a dig at Home Minister Amit Shah for his comments on the census, saying, “So much clarity on the census, which has already been delayed by more than three years.” A day before the opposition party’s remarks, Shah had said that the census will be conducted at the appropriate time and when a decision is taken in this regard, it will be announced.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “The self-proclaimed Chanakya has just dropped a bombshell. Yesterday, in Chhattisgarh, he revealed a big secret. He said the census will be conducted in due course and when a decision is taken, it will be announced.” Ramesh said in a post on ‘X’, “Wow! So much clarity on the census which has already been delayed by more than three years.” The exercise of updating the National Population Register (NPR) and the house listing phase of the census was to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but it was postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Responding to a question asked about this in a press conference in Raipur, Shah had said, “The census will be done at the appropriate time. When a decision is taken in this regard, then we will announce it.” The census work is still on hold and the government has not yet announced a new program. The census is conducted once a decade. Many opposition parties are demanding a ‘caste census’. However, the government has not yet made any announcement on this politically important issue.