-The Times of India Even as the opposition accused the government of tampering with poverty figures, Planning Commission stuck to its stand that poverty had declined by 7.3% between 2004-05 and 2009-10, a period when the Congress-led UPA has been in power. "You can put whatever poverty line you want, the fact is... the decline in poverty is twice the decline in the previous 11 years," Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh...

The UPA-II has used the Budget to again play politics with hunger. But it has paid no heed to the ticking time bomb of growing social tensions as 58 million Indians living off agriculture slide deeper into poverty. The Economic Survey says more than half the population is dependent on a sector whose share in the economy is shrinking. The urban-rural income divide is therefore steadily widening, a tinder box that...

Poor utilization of funds and irregular disbursals have been cited as the reasons for India’s school education system failing to show desired improvement even as the government has more than doubled funds for education programmes in the past two years. The government has spent just 70% of the funds allocated for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) and Right to Education in 2010-11 compared with 78% in the year earlier, according...

-The Hindustan Times The planning commission has released poverty data based on the 66th round of the National Sample Survey (2009-10) on household consumer expenditure survey. According to the new estimate, number of poor in India were 29.8% in 2009-10, down from 37.2% in 2004-05. The data is based on the daily per capita consumption of Rs 28 in urban cities and Rs 22 in rural areas in 2009-10. The same for June...

-The Hindustan Times The Planning Commission on Tuesday admitted of a serious flaw in the National Sample Survey data and national accounts, which led to pegging the poverty line at Rs 28 per capita daily consumption in cities. Plan panel deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the discrepancy between the consumer survey, on whose basis the poverty number were derived, and national accounts was a serious statistical problem. The commission...