Poverty Declines !

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