-Down to Earth Our policy makers should move away from the income criterion for estimating poverty and take cognisance of other indicators Amid mounting criticism and heated debates about the poverty line, a challenge has resurfaced to examine whether there could be a single non-monetary criterion of estimating poverty. A poverty line is a monetary cut-off point below which a person is deemed to be poor. Thus, any attempt to measure poverty...

-The Indian Express     A degree of targeting is useful in ensuring that policies are effective in reducing poverty. But we have to be careful how this is done. With the right policies, India has a good chance of seeing accelerated poverty reduction in the coming decades. As I have previously argued, this will require that India does a better job in reaching the country's many poor people through its social policies. However,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's slum population will surge to 104 million by 2017 - or around 9% of the total projected national population of 1.28 billion that year. This means urban planners will face escalating challenges as these slums will mostly proliferate in sleepy towns and in semi-rural areas, a consequence of an accelerating rural to urban shift across the nation. According to data provided in Parliament, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the tumult surrounding the food security bill and the fear of opposition parties stalling it in Parliament, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is ready to launch the Flagship Food Security Programme at a mega public function in Talkatora Stadium on Tuesday. The Delhi government views this is an opportunity to kick off its poll campaign centred on the aam admi. The launch, which coincides with...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Unemployment among Muslims is going down, marking an encouraging trend to gladden the champions of inclusive growth. The unemployment rate for the community declined from 2.3% in 2004-05 to 1.9% in 2009-10 in rural areas and from 4.1% to 3.2% in urban areas. However, a vast majority of Muslims in both rural and urban areas are not part of the organized workforce compared to other...