Quoting a planning commission report, the party said while 5% of affluent Indians own 38% of the national assets, a vast 60% of the households own only 30% of the country's assets.
The Trinamool Congress, a key UPA ally, on Thursday criticised the "lopsided" economic development being pursued by the government in the last two decades and rued that the president's address did not indicate any step for equitable distribution of wealth and poverty reduction.
"Due to lopsided growth because of pursuance of liberalised economy for the past two decades today we have rich people whose wealth is growing and a vast majority of poor living in darkness," TMC leader D Bandhopadhya said in Rajya Sabha while speaking on motion on president's address.
He said the "faulty policy" was enlarging the gulf between rich and poor.
Quoting a planning commission report, he said while 5% of affluent Indians own 38% of the national assets, a vast 60% of the households own only 30% of the country's assets.
He said reports suggest that the Eleventh Five Year plan has failed to reduce poverty among Scheduled Caste and other weaker sections.
The TMC leader lamented that the government was continuing with the same policy.
He, however, praised the late Indira Gandhi for distributing assets to rural masses.
Bandhopadhya criticised heavy dependence on market mechanism which he said exclude a vast majority of the poor.
The TMC leader also expressed concern over low public investment in agriculture.
Bandhopadhya strongly opposed GM crop technology which he alleged was propagated by a known international seed company and demanded that moratorium on Bt brinjal which was imposed by the government in February 2010 should continue.
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