It is worrying that the Tendulkar method, chosen by the Planning Commission to calculate the poverty line in its latest figures, underestimates the levels of poverty while overestimating poverty reduction. The figures show that 29.8% or 360 million Indians were poor in 2009-10 as compared to 37.2% or 400 million in 2004-05. A poor person has been defined as one who spends R28 per day in urban areas and R22.5...
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Poverty 'down', but not the hungry-Subodh Varma
Even as the debate rages on whether poverty measurement in India is accurate, a recent report on nutritional intake of Indians has come up with a chilling conclusion: two thirds of the country's population is eating less than what is required. Even more worrying is that this trend continues despite a healthy economic growth rate over several years, and despite several mega programmes of nutrition delivery to children. Experts believe that...
More »Women take the lead in India's grey march by Kounteya Sinha
Now, a majority of India's elderly are women. The Registrar General of India's (RGI) latest data from the Sample Registration System (SRS), 2010, has confirmed feminization of India's elderly. The data sent to the Union health ministry on Saturday shows that the percentage of women in the age group of 60 years and above is higher in 17 out of the 20 large states. It is as high as nearly...
More »The poverty wars and impossibly low poverty line of India by V Raghunathan
Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar (TOI March 25 and ET March 28) has strongly defended the Planning Commission's stance that there is nothing amiss with the poverty line drawn at Rs 22.40 in rural areas and Rs 28.65 in urban areas (down from initial estimates of Rs 32 and Rs 26, respectively). Let us discount the copious tears being shed by various politicians and their parties on this new line of poverty...
More »Myths about poverty lines-Arvind Panagariya
By the sheer loudness of their protests, NGOs, journalists and intellectuals have bamboozled the prime minister into withdrawing the latest Planning Commission report. The report had shown accelerated poverty reduction, a perfectly plausible outcome in view of accelerated growth since 2003-04. But the critics are not happy that India is succeeding in combating destitution. They therefore tirelessly invent myths to muddy the discourse. If we are to avoid costly policy...
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