Congress urges government to adopt bottom-up approach in policymaking to tackle low consumption and inequality

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: AICC

The Congress on Friday (February 28, 2025) said that the focus of policymaking should shift from “cronyism to bottom-up empowerment” to tackle inequality and low consumption.

Citing the study titled “Indus Valley Annual Report 2025” by venture capital firm Blume Ventures that examined India’s economic landscape and start-up ecosystem, Congress General Secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said that the bottom-up approach must begin with kickstarting rural incomes.

Mr. Ramesh said India’s per capita consumption expenditure is only ₹1,493 — less than a third of China’s — and the consumption of several key lifestyle goods such as two-wheelers, air conditioners, footwear and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) was alarmingly low. India accounted for 7% of air conditioner units sold globally, whereas China accounted for 55%, he said.

The Congress communication chief said India’s consuming class was only about 30 million households — about 10% of India’s population — who were able to purchase goods and services at scale. “This ‘consuming class’ is supported by an ‘aspirant class’ of 70 million households that have limited purchasing capacity. Finally, there are nearly 205 million households, comprising 1 billion people who don’t have any income to spend on discretionary goods,” Mr. Ramesh said.

He added that the consuming class was not expanding — key metrics such as air passenger traffic and two-wheeler sales reflect stagnancy in volume – and nearly every source of data in recent years had confirmed that India was increasingly unequal, with “India’s growth story coming only from its richest”.

“The majority of Indians are unable to afford anything beyond the barest necessities. They reflect in the Union Government’s vision only as mere labarthis, beneficiaries of schemes – rather than rights-bearing, empowered economic agents. The way out of this quagmire is to shift the focus of policymaking from cronyism to bottom-up empowerment. It begins with kickstarting rural incomes, with a hike in MGNREGA wages that beats inflation,” Mr. Ramesh said.

At a separate press conference, party spokesperson Abhay Dubey reiterated the party’s demand to make minimum support price (MSP) a legal guarantee.

Mr. Dubey claimed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture (2024-25), in its report on December 17, 2024 had clearly stated that unless the legal guarantee of MSP was given, the farmers would not benefit.

“Two major States produce soybean in the country. About 90% of soybean is produced in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. During the Maharashtra election, the farmers there stated that the support price of soybean is ₹4,892 per quintal, but we are getting a price even lower than that. Therefore, the government should take cognisance of it,” he said.