-The Hindu This is ‘abject poverty’, and if the economy is to be repaired, the number of the poor has to be meticulously counted The son of a corn merchant-turned sociologist, Charles Booth had little patience for Charles Dickens and others in his time, who used lyrical prose to describe the desperation of the poor in working class London. Booth was also angry, in 1885, over the claims made by F.D. Hyndman,...

During the last one year, India seems to have lost the race in becoming the world leader in terms of development, prosperity and growth thanks to the recession brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The total number of poor people in the country has swelled and the middle class has shrunk in 2020 in comparison to what was anticipated earlier. A new study by the United States based think tank Pew...

-The New Indian Express The authors conclude that the record pace of poverty reduction was due to high growth rate. Only 84 million (8.4 crore) Indians are poor as on 2017 down from 270 million in 2011, claims a new study. It also states that poverty, as per the Tendulkar poverty line, reduced from 14.9 per cent in 2011 to 7.0 per cent in 2017 -- the fastest pace the country has seen...

-TheWire.in There is a serious problem when it comes to both allocation and implementation of schemes for SC/ST development. People who fall under Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups constitute 25% of India’s total population. As we approach NDA 2.0’s first budget announcement, it is crucial to examine the policy and practice of its SC/ST budgets over the last five years. It is well established that both groups of people have...

-The Indian Express Direct income support for farmers is too late, too little The hopes of farmers for a meaningful package from the Modi government have evaporated after the announcements in the Union budget. The proposed Rs 6,000 annual direct income support to small and marginal farmers is a drop in the ocean. States like Telangana and Odisha have done much better with their Rythu Bandhu and Kalia schemes respectively. After...