New poverty formula proves test for India, By Raymond Zhong, July 27, 2014, Wall Street Journal: “India is wrestling with an important question: How do you count the poor if you can’t agree on the definition of poverty? Debate over redrawing the poverty line—the product of reams of academic research, field surveys and mathematical modeling—might seem arcane but carries great consequence. Under a new formula proposed last month by a government-appointed committee, nearly 30% of India’s 1.2 billion people would be classified as poor, up from 22% now, an increase of 94 million people. Decades of disagreement over how to measure the poor in countries around the world suggest there is something unquantifiable about poverty—that, like goodness and obscenity, it may be easier to recognize than to define…”
Tag: Poverty definition
Poverty Definition – India
Setting a high bar for poverty in India, By Manu Joseph, July 9, 2014, New York Times: “It is not uncommon for Indians to stand in a line to receive alms from a politician as he gives away clothes, pots and laptops that would make Apple laugh. This is a custom that has survived from a time when the theater of charity was enough to make the poor feel grateful. But they have since come to regard such alms as political buffoonery and now expect substantial assistance from the government. To bring order to the public spending that subsidizes hundreds of millions of lives, and to ensure that the poorest receive what is meant for them, India is on a constant quest for a meaningful definition of poverty. . .”