MISSING THE MIDDLE CLASS

Once an engine of India’s economic growth, now reeling from the pandemic, India’s middle classes find little comfort in Budget 2022

- Shwweta Punj

SANJEEV SHUKLA, 54

A SUDDEN LOSS: When the pandemic hit, Shukla was earning about Rs 1 crore a year at Muthoot Finance. After having lost his job in the early months, he says he has found it impossible to find equivalent employment elsewhere.

“THE LOSS OF A JOB IS A LOSS OF FACE, POSITION AND STATUS. THE ACCOMPANYING EMOTIONAL TRAUMA IS MUCH BIGGER THAN ONE IMAGINES”

Nirmala Sitharaman is as middle class as it gets in India. She did her schooling in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli before getting a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tamil Nadu and then pursuing a master’s degree at JNU. Notwithstanding her meteoric rise from BJP spokesperson to handling major portfolios in the Modi government, she is seen as part of the larger fold of India’s middle class— now estimated to be 380 million-strong, or close to a fourth of India’s total population. For many years now, the booming middle class has been seen as the symbol of India’s phenomenal economic rise since the 1991 economic reforms. Not anymore.