[Marxistindia] Rejoinder to Chidambaram

[news from the cpi(m)]

March 28, 2010



The CPI(M) has issued the following rejoinder to the remarks of Mr. P.
Chidambaram, which appeared in The Hindu dated 28th March 2010.


The Home Minister has termed the fact of 77 % of our population living
below Rs.20/- per day as a “myth” propagated by the Left.


He has done so by misquoting the Left as saying that 77 per cent of the
population has a per capita income of Rs.20 per day. What the Left has
been citing is the figure provided by the National Commission for
Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, which was set up by the previous
UPA Government in 2004. The Report on Conditions of Work and Livelihoods
in the Unorganised Sector submitted to the Prime Minister by the NCEUS in
August 2007, states in the first page of its first chapter:


“At the end of 2004-05, about 836 million or 77 per cent of the population
were living below Rs.20 per day and constituted most of India’s informal
economy.” This report is available in the public domain.
(http://nceus.gov.in/)



The Home Minister would do well to study the Reports of his own Government
more carefully in order to better his understanding of the prevailing
socio-economic conditions of people in the country.