The Impact Of Inflation On India’s Poor:
The impact of inflation on India’s poor would be negligible as per a United Nations Development Programme report on ‘Addressing the Cost of Living Crisis in Developing Countries’, which also looked at the ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war such as energy and food market disruptions.
- While soaring food and energy prices could push up to 71 million people around the world into poverty, the UNDP said in the report that the chances of those in India earning $1.9 a day slipping into poverty due to this upturn would be zero, while the impact would be a mere 0.02% and 0.04% if a poverty line of $3.30 or $5.50 a day was assumed, respectively.
- A recent comparative assessment of price and income support measures shows that targeted transfers helps poorer households cope with price spikes.
Government Initiatives:
- India’s ‘well-tailored’ programmes carried out over the past two years to support people and ensure they don’t run the risk of slipping into poverty seemed to have made an impact.
- The Centre has allocated more than 1,000 lakh tonnes of foodgrains from April 2020 till September this year, over and above the food security quota and had provided support of ₹1,500 to 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders in the first three months of the pandemic.
