- Who are the poor in India?, By Soutik Biswas, March 21, 2012, BBC News: “Who are the poor in India? The fact is nobody quite knows. There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India, and the counts have been mired in controversy. This week the Planning Commission said 29.8% of India’s 1.21 billion people live below the poverty line, a sharp drop from 37.2% in 2004-2005. (This means means around 360 million people currently live in poverty.) But one estimate suggests this figure could be as high as 77%. The problem, believe many, is that the new count is based on fixing the poverty line for a person living on 28.65 rupees (56 cents/35p) a day in cities and 22.42 rupees (44 cents/33p) a day in villages…”
- ‘Sharp drop’ in India poverty due to welfare programmes, March 20, 2012, BBC News: “Poverty in India has dropped sharply, the country’s Planning Commission has said. From 2004-2005 to 2009-2010, the rate fell from 37.2% to 29.8%, which means around 360 million people currently live in poverty. Rural poverty has declined faster than urban poverty during this period. The Planning Commission said the main reason for the reduction in poverty was the government’s increased spending on rural welfare programmes…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty