India Development Coalition of America-IDCA-Poverty Alleviation

In economic writings on India it is commonplace to describe Indian economic inequality to be relatively low. In support, the inequality measure of Gini coefficient (with values of zero for no inequality, and one for extreme inequality) on the basis of NSS consumption data is usually cited. This Gini coefficient in 2004-5 was 0.325, and is indeed lower than in many developing countries, including China, and by constant repetition, both in national and international documents and the financial press, this has become part of the folklore about Indian inequality. But there are reasons to believe that the NSS data under-represent the rich, and in any case while for other developing countries the Gini coefficient often refers to income distribution, India's refers to distribution of consumption expenditure (as NSS does not collect income data), which is usually less than that of income (partly because the rich tend to save more than the poor). The NCAER occasionally collects income data,

Drawing a Line Under Poverty in India By PAUL BECKETT It's tempting to ask the World Bank for a few hundred copies of their new study, "Moving Out of Poverty: The Promise of Empowerment and Democracy in India," and mail them to the Prime Minister and every Cabinet minister, minister of state and state chief minister in the nation. Unveiled last week, the study tracks the fate of 30,000 rural Indians in 300 villages in four states from 1995-2005. Before you holler "this was just as the last government was starting, we have a new government now," one of the things that is most telling about the report is how up-to-date it remains on the issues of rural poverty in India – and how it provides the ballast for simple, targeted priorities that the new government would do well to heed as it prepares to throw megabucks at the poor in the name of inclusion. Paul Beckett The study, conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam, found that poverty was, n

Published on August 20 2009 , Page 13 http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=20_08_2009_013_006&kword=&mode=1 38 per cent of Indians are poor: report The figure is 10 per cent higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5 by Chetan Chauhan … chetan@hindustantimes.com About 38 per cent of the country's population are poor, a government committee constituted to estimate poverty has said. The figure is 10 per cent higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5 per cent. The committee, based on new methodology, has taken into consideration indicators for health, education, sanitation, nutrition and income, as per the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey of 2004-05, to reach at new poverty estimation for India. The survey had said India's population was 1.1 billion that year. A committee headed by S.D. Tendulkar, former chairperson of the PM Economic Advisory Committee (PMEAC), has used a different methodology, in its preliminary find

--- On Fri, 21/8/09, HARIHARAN PV wrote: Date: Friday, 21 August, 2009, 9:07 AM Dear Dr Mohan Jain and Friends I have personally made certain studies during the last twenty years. Until about last year ( before the sudden increase of the costs of all household food items in India by as much as 100% this year ) the average minimum livelihood NEED for an individual was estimated @ Rs.3500 to Rs.4000 per month (about Rs.45, 000 per person per annum), for a decent living level. (c ontrast this with the paltry amount of about Rs.6000 to Rs.7500 per annum being promised under NREGS )... My estimates were based on personal (discussions) visits to various villages from Dhule and Nashik in Mahrashtra to Kanyakumari District in the southern most part of India. It was shocking that as much as 74% of the village population DOES NOT have this "decent level" of living quality ... in most cases their estimated earnings would be @ less than Rs.7500 per annum (about Rs.6