Data on class distribution of income is not compiled centrally, the government told Parliament on Tuesday in response to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s questions about the rising inequality between the top 1% and the bottom half of the population.
In his written reply, Union minister of state for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary did not respond to the query over the reasons behind an exponential rise in income inequality. He said the process for the next Household Consumption Expenditure Survey was initiated last year.
Chaudhary cited schemes such as National Rural Livelihoods Mission and National Social Assistance Programme and said they have been introduced to bring about overall improvement in the quality of lives in rural areas.
He added this was being done through employment generation, strengthening of livelihood opportunities, promotion of self-employment, skilling of rural youths, provision of social assistance and other basic amenities.
Chaudhary referred to the government’s commitment to inclusive growth. He cited government schemes aimed to reduce poverty and inequality, provide social security, income generation and livelihood options, and improve the quality of lives of the vulnerable sections.
In his separate reply to Nationalist Congress Party’s Fauzia Khan, Chaudhary told the Parliament the government did not have any information whether Indian deposits in Swiss banks have risen to the highest in 14 years to over ₹30,500 crore. He said the government does not collect such information.
“However, there are some media reports based on Swiss National Bank (SNB) statistics which mention that funds of Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks have risen in 2021 as compared to 2020.”
He cited Swiss authorities and added the data with respect to SNB statistics includes amounts due in respect of customer deposits (including in foreign branches of Swiss Banks in any country), other liabilities as well as amounts due to banks. “The Swiss authorities have also clarified that the SNB annual banking statistics should not be used for analyzing deposits held by residents of India in Switzerland.”