July 09 (Siliguri Chronicle) – Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale on Wednesday raised concerns over a glaring error in a NITI Aayog report, where Bihar was mistakenly shown as West Bengal on the cover page.
Gokhale shared a screenshot of the four-page summary report on West Bengal on social media platform X, taking a swipe at the Modi government. “The Government of India cannot even place West Bengal on a map,” he wrote, calling out the mistake.
Further continuing his attack on the premier policy think tank and linking the glitch with the NRC issue, Gokhale said, “BJP has 12 MPs from Bengal including 2 Union Ministers. And yet, their govt shamelessly shows Bihar as Bengal on a map. BJP has been targeting and harassing Bengalis in every state ruled by them. Our leader & CM Mamata Banerjee has also exposed how the Modi Govt wants to impose NRC in Bengal out of fear of losing elections.”
This isn’t the first time NITI Aayog has found itself at the center of controversy.
NITI Aayog has faced its share of criticism over the years. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the government think tank came under the scanner for relying too heavily on assumptions in its response planning.
One of its members, Dr. V.K. Paul, had predicted that Covid cases would drop to zero after May 2020. However, a nationwide surge in infections soon after proved the projections to be far off the mark.
In 2023, the think tank’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report claimed that poverty in India had fallen sharply — from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23. The report sparked criticism from opposition parties, especially the Congress, which questioned the methodology, sample size, and revised criteria used in the assessment.
In July 2024, the SDG India Index also drew criticism after it reported Tamil Nadu’s full immunisation coverage at 85.13% — a figure reportedly well below the state’s actual rate of 95%. Citing discrepancies in the data, the Tamil Nadu government raised the issue with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
