THE ministry of statistics and programme implementation has recently released the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) conducted during August 2022 to July 2023. Household consumption surveys earlier were conducted every five years but the last HCES was conducted in 2011-12. In between one HCES was conducted and the report was not made public as that showed a decline in consumption expenditure which could have been a cause of embarrassment for the existing government.

USUALLY greater allocation for expenditures that directly impact the poor are termed as ‘populist’ by the mainstream media and ironically sops given to the rich in the form of corporate tax cuts or capital subsidies are considered to be prudent and responsible fiscal measures facilitating ‘efficient’ allocation of resources. In post-reform India this had been the usual narrative offered by the media to central government’s expenditure cuts during budget announcements.

ADVANCED economies had been worst hit by the financial crisis when real GDP fell in 34 out of 37 advanced economies of the world. The growth rate recovery was slow and it took about three to five years for most of these countries to get back to their pre-crisis levels. Some argue that western capitalism has entered into a phase of secular stagnation characterised by low private investment and declining productivity. Capitalism is a system driven by investments mobilised by capitalists in view of future expectation of profits.

THE euphoria on India becoming the third largest economy by 2030 or a 5 trillion-dollar economy soon backed by estimates by rating agencies assuming 7 per cent growth rate in 2026-27 and further, has been showcased as one of the great achievements of the current regime that seem to have exalted India’s position in the global scenario. To begin with some initial facts, India’s GDP in current prices is 3.39 trillion US dollars and in constant 2015 US dollar prices it is 2.95 trillion US dollars.

THE collapse of the Soviet Union was a sigh of relief to the imperialist forces of the world who were desperately trying to suffocate the emerging alternative that in a lightning pace not only could achieve the growth and development of the advanced economies of the world but more importantly could offer an alternative system against the global hegemony of capital.In 1931, Stalin remarked that Russia was about fifty to hundred years behind the level of growth of productive forces achieved by advanced capitalist countries and that gap needs to be covered within ten years.