New Delhi, Aug 1 : Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday said government is using Covid and Russia-Ukraine war as excuse for rising inflation, and questioned in India might be facing a ‘stagflation’, as the Lok Sabha debated the issue.

Participating in the debate, Chowdhury said Opposition wanted to express their concern for the common people of the country.

As some BJP MPs talked about ‘freebies’ given by states run by Opposition parties, Chowdhury questioned, “what is the distinction between ‘revdi culture’ and other culture? I am really confused about it”.

He also talked about the impact of the economic situation on nutrition, and said “According to the Government’s own figures, anaemia in children and women have increased significantly between 2015-16 and 2019-21.”

“Over 67 per cent children are anaemic in the country. PM Modi’s home State of Gujarat has the highest number of anaemic children at 79.7 per cent and 57 per cent of women in Gujarat are anaemic.”

He said India is already suffering from a malnutrition and hunger crisis.

“About 20 crore people do not have sufficient access to food. One-fourth of the world’s hungry population belongs to India, and India was ranked 101 out of 116 countries on the Global Hunger Index for 2021, a score that has been worsening for a few consecutive years,” he said.

” Now, you can easily assume how the country has been progressing towards prosperity. The statistics simply suggest that we are really in great trouble.”

He said between 2013 and 2019, income from agriculture in real terms decreased by 8.9 per cent, according to the analysis of SAS survey conducted by the National Statistical Office. “This is opposite to BJP’s promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022,” he said.

Chowdhury also talked about distribution of income and said, “the top 10 per cent of Indian population holds 57 per cent of the total national income, including 22 per cent held by the top one per cent, while the bottom 50 per cent holds just 13 per cent in 2021.”

He said top 10 per cent of Indians had about 96 times more income on average than the bottom 50 per cent.

He also quoted an Oxfam report and said in 2021 India’s top one per cent holds about 77 per cent of the
country’s wealth.

“How is this possible without the support of this Government?” he said.

Chowdhury also raised concern if the country was facing a ‘stagflation’. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s in her reply denied possibility of a recession or stagflation hitting India.

Congress, along with other opposition parties like DMK and NCP, staged a walkout before the Finance Minister finished her reply, saying that they were dissatisfied with her reply.(UNI)