Jharkhand numbers better than Bihar, Chhattisgarh; but chief minister Munda beset with own problems Controversial as it may have become, Planning Commission data indicates that poverty levels have fallen in Jharkhand in spite of well documented bouts of political instability that have often plagued the Maoist-hit state. The latest data released by the commission suggests that the number of poor in Jharkhand dipped by 6.2 per cent between 2004-05 and 2009-10, a...

-The Business Standard Rising per capita income and growth have reduced poverty among all classes, including socially-disadvantaged classes. Though there are skeptics who argue that growth has bypassed the socially disadvantaged classes, the analysis of National Sample Survey (NSS) data proves otherwise. But, high prevalence of poverty in the states where more SC, ST populations are living still remains same. A Columbia University, USA, study that had analysed the NSS figures from...

The debate over the poverty numbers in India is oddly impoverished. Judging from the vociferousness with which India’s press and English-speaking upper-middle-classes are debating the latest poverty figures, those who chide the wealthy for a lack of concern for the poor are barking up the wrong tree. And no doubt much of the breast-beating about the “absurd” poverty cutoffs and the declines in poverty (exaggerated! inadequate!) is extremely well-intentioned. Unfortunately, the...

The sharp drop in poverty estimates in the latest count has been attributed largely to the high growth over 2004-2010, but disaggregated state-level data does not seem to provide conclusive evidence. The national poverty count dropped to 29.8% in 2009-10 from 37.2% in 2004-05, but in states such as Bihar, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and even Punjab the decline was much less even though they reported a visible improvement in economic growth...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...