After a gap of 11 years in February 2024, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released data on national household consumption expenditure. It also threw light upon the gaping divide between the richest and the poorest in India and revealed that the average MPCE (Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure) for the bottom five percent of the population was just Rs 1,373 in the rural areas. In simple terms, the daily expenditure by the poorest five percent in rural areas was a meagre Rs 46, compared to Rs 350 for the richest five percent.