On the eve of the Union Budget session of Parliament, the Congress on Tuesday questioned the credibility of official economic data, alleging that inequality was widening even as welfare measures were being rolled back.
The party’s Research Department released its annual report, ‘Inequality on the Rise, Welfare in Retreat – Real State of the Economy 2026’, two days before the tabling of the Economic Survey and the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.
The Congress said the exercise was aimed at placing “facts” before the public ahead of what it described as a government-driven “propaganda” push through the President’s address, the Economic Survey and the Budget.
“It [the report] correctly identifies the key challenges to the Indian economy stemming from ‘K-shaped’ unequal growth, inadequate and low-quality job-creation, erosion of social security nets, and the under-investment in basic public services of clean air, water, and healthcare,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, adding, “We hope that the Finance Minister and the Chief Economic Advisor will grapple with some of the realities presented in this report in the forthcoming Economic Survey and Union Budget.”
