If you could spend more than Rs 28 per day and lived in a town, or Rs 22 per day and lived in a village, you were above the poverty line. This is Planning Commission's new poverty line for the year 2009-2010. According to its most recent estimates, 52 million people moved out of poverty between 2005 and 2010. For rural areas, poverty is down from 42% to 33% while for...

Average per capita net availability of foodgrain declined in every five-year period of the 'reforms' without exception. In the 20 years preceding the reforms — 1972-1991 — it rose every five-year period without exception. The country's total foodgrain production is expected to touch a record 250 million tons this year (2011-12). Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar PTI, February 17, 2012 Record foodgrain output of 235.88 million tons in 2010-11. Sharad Pawar, PTI, April 6, 2011 India's foodgrain...

The Economic Survey 2011-12 showcases the dividends of economic liberalisation started by the ruling party. But admits: growth is not possible without agriculture During the last financial year there were talks of the Indian economy finally decoupling from agriculture thus monsoon. The Economic Survey of 2011-12 disagrees with that. The survey has re-emphasised that whatever economic growth happened in the last fiscal it was due to agricultural growth. India recorded the...

-The Telegraph The economic survey has challenged an international assessment that has ranked India 125, or near-bottom, among 132 countries on environmental performance, but has acknowledged that air pollution has increased to alarming levels. The survey, released by the Union government today, has questioned the methodology of the Environmental Performance Index 2012 that has assigned air quality in India a rank of 132, the worst in the world, and similarly low ranks...

-PTI India has become the fourth largest economy in the world because of strong economic growth but still has a low per capita income, the Economic Survey for 2011-12 said Thursday. “India has emerged as the fourth largest economy globally with a high growth rate and has improved its global Ranking in terms of per capita income. Yet, the fact remains that its per capita income continues to be quite low,” it...