Hungry Stomachs Go Up In India Unchecked

India has stopped counting its poor; it is counting its billionaires to showcase what a section regards as economic prosperity.

- Tushar K Mahanti

Economic growth is now perceived in the number of cars sold; in the number of rising internet connections or in the number of mobile phones manufactured in the country.

India is now home to the world’s fourth largest number of billionaires with more than 100 super rich living here, according to the latest list of billionaires of Forbes magazine. Despite India’s decelerating economic growth, the combined fortunes of the Indian billionaires soared 26% to $ 479 billion in 2017. In two years, between 2015 and 2017, the wealth of Indian billionaires increased by a huge 62%.

Riding high on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s electoral promise of ‘good times’- a record 90 Indians with a combined net worth of $295 billion featured in Forbes billionaires list of 2015. As many as 28 of them made their appearance for the first time in 2015.

The number of billionaires has increased as also their net worth but in the hind side of this phenomenal achievement of the country’s upper strata, the world’s highest growing economy until recently, has turned out to be the home of the largest number of empty stomachs.

India ranked 100th position among 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017 prepared by the Washington-based International Policy Research Institute (IPRI). India has slipped three positions this year against 97th rank in 2016.