Comfortable middle class.

"Studies conducted by Lok Foundation with the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania, came up with the surprising finding that about 49% of the respondents self-identified as being middle class," wrote Prof Dipankar Gupta. Literacy levels in slums for both men and women "are higher than the national average". "It is rather curious, but once a man's monthly income exceeds Rs 40,000, there is an uptick in the entry of the woman in the job market." Because, "The household can now employ somebody else to do the crouch and grunt chores." 49% may claim to be middle class but, "In 2021-22, there were 20.9 million...taxpayers. Population estimates for the same year pegged the Indian adult population at 943.5 million...So, taxpayers accounted for only 2.2% of the voting population." TOI. "An analysis of CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) data reveals that of the 79.7 million returns filed in 2022-2023, only 9.882 million had returned income of more than Rs 1 million." "The announcement by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2025-2026 to make incomes of up to Rs 1.2 million per annum tax free," will reduce the number of taxpayers to less than 15 million, wrote Subhash C Garg. "The net effect of the $12 billion (Rs 1 trillion approx.) in tax cuts announced in the annual budget will probably be a 10-20 basis points increase in the growth rate in the fiscal year starting April 1, Nikhil Gupta and Tanisha Ladha wrote." "Consumers will likely use part of the tax relief to reduce debt, which has risen sharply to 52% of income now from 35% a decade ago." DH. "The jobless rate for graduates was 29.1%, almost nine times higher than the 3.4% for those who can't read or write, a new ILO report on India's labor market showed." BS. "The Economic Survey 2024-25 suggested that India will also need to create 7.85 million new non-farm jobs annually, achieve 100% literacy, develop the quality of our educational institutions and develop high-quality, future-ready infrastructure at scale and speed." ET. Chairman of Larsen & Tubro (L&T) said recently that "Indian workers, including techies, are hesitant to move for jobs, creating challenges for industry." ET. He also said that "laborers are unwilling to work or relocate for jobs due to the availability of welfare schemes and a preference for comfort." HT. "Rather than promoting them to be a part of the mainstream of the society by contributing to the development of the nation, are we not creating a class of parasites?" asked Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih of the Supreme Court. NDTV. Less than 15 million pay income tax, 29.1% of graduates have no jobs, but monthly income of over Rs 40,000 needed to employ a maid and so 49% are middle class. If laborers are relaxing at home on freebies they are entitled to consider themselves middle class. Just increase the amount of freebies and they will be rich. No other country has thought of becoming rich in this way. Only India. Ingenious.