Garibi Hatao Desh Bachao ("Remove poverty, rescue the country") was the theme and slogan of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

's 1971 election campaign. The slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programs that came with it were designed to give Gandhi an independent national support, based on rural and urban poor, which would allow her to by-pass the dominant rural castes both in and out of state and local government; likewise the urban commercial class. And, for their part, the previously voiceless poor particularly Dalits and Adivasis would at last gain both political worth and political weight. The programs created through garibi hatao, though carried out locally, were funded, developed, supervised, and staffed by Government officials in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

and

Congress Party The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

officials. It was part of the 5th Five-Year Plan.

References

{{reflist 1971 Indian general election Indian political slogans Poverty in India 1971 in India Hindi words and phrases Indira Gandhi administration