We must
believe Montek Singh Ahluwalia ( Deputy Chairman – Planning Commission of India
), when he says poverty declined during 2007 – 2012.
Poverty in India,
according to him, came down from 37 % ( in 2004 ) to 32 % ( in 2009 ).
Now, that
is 70 million people !
It is
another story that the Supreme Court of India, criticized the Planning
Commission for employing the daily expenditure criteria for deciding the “
Below Poverty Line – BPL “ people as those whose daily expenditure ( on food /
shelter / clothing ) is less than,
Ø
Rs.12
( $ 0.26 ) in rural areas
Ø
Rs.17
( $ 0.38 ) in urban areas ( enough to buy 4 cups of tea )
In the next
Plan Period ( 2012 – 2017 ), how about pulling-up 200 million people above the
poverty line by changing the daily expenditure criteria to
Ø
Rs.7
( $ 0.15 ) in rural areas
Ø
Rs.12
( 0.26 ) in urban areas
Montek may
want to “ export “ this innovation to other poor countries.
With
regards
hemen
parekh
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