In an interview with Karan Thapar, Sen says that the GDP growth figure only conveys a partial picture of the state of the economy. It does not reveal high levels of unemployment or increasing demand for NREGA. Watch | Data on Which GDP Calculated A Major Concern, Soon GDP Could Become Unreliable: Pronab Sen (thewire.in)
The key concern identified by Sen, who is also the present Chairman of the Standing Committee on Statistics, is the way the consumer price index (CPI) and the wholesale price index (WPI) are calculated and, specifically, the basket of goods on which they are based. This basket has not changed for 12 years, during which period the consumption patterns of the Indian population have changed dramatically. Therefore, the baskets of goods on which WPI and CPI are based are now almost comprehensively out of date.
In a 50-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Sen said GDP and the GDP growth figure only convey a partial picture of the state of the economy. They do not reveal high levels of unemployment or increasing demand for the rural employment guarantee scheme NREGA or the fact that 58% of the workforce is self-employed – which he interprets as distress employment. He adds that perhaps as many as 95 million people, who are said to be self-employed, do not earn any income at all. Therefore, when politicians – and sometimes economists – present the GDP growth figure to claim the country is soaring, it doesn’t capture the truth about the majority of the Indian population who are poor.
21/11/2023