-The Hindu There is absolutely no methodological relationship between the Tendulkar poverty line and the one dollar poverty line. Mihir Shah has defended the poverty line recommended by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee in 2009 in his article in The Hindu (editorial page, "Understanding the Poverty Line", August 5, 2013). Mr. Shah makes two claims. First, he argues that "Tendulkar [...] computed poverty lines for 2004-05 at a level that was equivalent, in...

-Down to Earth Government claims a huge drop in poverty numbers but critical indicators-health, malnutrition and wages-continue to be grim. So how did the poor fare better? After a long, long time there was good news to splash as media led with the report of a record 21.9 per cent drop in poverty levels. The July 24 newspaper headlines were celebratory as they reported the Planning Commission's findings that poverty rates...

-IndiaResists.com The ongoing debate between two stalwart economists, Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, must be joined by those who understand contemporary realities and challenges in terms altogether different from those of mainstream economists. In a recent (July 27) article in Times of India, Bhagwati's co-author Arvind Panagariya characterizes the differences between the two in the following terms. Sen favours education and health measures as being the first steps to tackle poverty...

-Outlook The anti-poverty programme politics dictate that the number of poor are kept low.   I don't think the Planning Commission's poverty numbers are credible for several reasons: growth has decelerated; NREGA hasn't been as successful in targeting the poor as generally asserted; nor has the PDS benefited the poor significantly. The first phase of the UPA saw some macroeconomic reforms but not the second phase. Also, the poverty lines worked out...

-The Hindu     The Planning Commission's spurious method shows a decline in poverty because it has continuously lowered the measuring standard The Planning Commission has once again embarrassed us with its claims of decline in poverty by 2011-12 to grossly unrealistic levels of 13.7 per cent of population in urban areas and 25.7 per cent in rural areas, using monthly poverty lines of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 816 respectively, or Rs. 33.3 and...