Proverbial ostrich: Cong slams govt over unprecedented decline in wages

The Congress on Sunday claimed that a combination of slow wage growth and "back-breaking" inflation has caused an unprecedented decline in real wages and said that like the "proverbial ostrich", the government continues to remain blind to the most fundamental challenge faced by the Indian economy.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said a new report by a noted brokerage firm has once again shed light on the truth that the Union Government has consistently denied - real household incomes in India are facing a persistent decline.

"A combination of slow wage growth and back-breaking inflation has caused an unprecedented decline in real wages (wages adjusted for price rise) and therefore incomes," he said in a statement.

Ramesh pointed out that several surveys and data sets - including the Annual Survey of Unregistered Enterprises (ASUSE), the Reserve Bank of India's KLEMS data, and the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (HCES) - have demonstrated ...