Every third Indian is living below the poverty line, estimates an expert group saying that more than 37 per cent of people are poor, ten per cent more than estimated earlier.
Among the states, Orissa and Bihar are at the bottom, while Nagaland, Delhi and J&K have the least number of poor, says a report by the expert group, headed by Suresh Tendulkar, former chairman of PM’s Economic Advisory Council.
That is the
report. Of course, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then poverty, too, depends on the number cruncher:
According to the Planning Commission’s recent estimates, poverty in India came down from 35.97 per cent in 1993-94 to 27.54 per cent in 2004-05.
Although the Tendulkar report has estimated the poverty at 37.2 per cent against the Commission’s estimate of 27.5 per cent, it did say the estimates are “not comparable” as the former is based on new basket of goods.
No wonder we cite the quote that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics! Who you gonna believe?
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