-The Times of India India's growth story is undeniable. But the 68th National Sample Survey Organization's (NSSO) findings seem to reaffirm that the benefits from this boost in the economy have been cornered by the upper crust, while the poorest continue to languish in near destitution. Compared with the previous survey, which was conducted in 2009-10, the monthly expenditure of the poorest 10% population in rural India has risen by only...

-Live Mint The latest numbers may lead to a significant decline in the poverty level India’s rural income grew at a much faster clip between 2010 and 2012 than in the previous years, according to the provisional results of the 68th round of the consumption expenditure survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The latest numbers may lead to a significant decline in the poverty level once the Planning Commission...

Around two in five households in Kolkata don't have ownership or tenancy documents, while one in four live in the fear of being evicted without legal notice.  In Mumbai, 30% households don't have ownership or tenancy documents and one in five feel insecure against eviction, says the UN's Millennium Development Goals Report, 2012.  Released on Monday, the report says the most visible violation of housing rights faced by the urban poor today...

-The Times of India No survey official has visited the village of Phisami, not far from India's border with Myanmar in Nagaland, or parts of the Andaman and Nicobar islands as the sheer remoteness of these areas made them off limits for enumerators.  This will change in July, when the 69th round of the National Sample Survey Organization's (NSSO) enumeration of socio-economic indicators gets under way as all of India will be...

-The Economist An absence of optimism plays a large role in keeping people trapped in poverty THE idea that an infusion of hope can make a big difference to the lives of wretchedly poor people sounds like something dreamed up by a well-meaning activist or a tub-thumping politician. Yet this was the central thrust of a lecture at Harvard University on May 3rd by Esther Duflo, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute...