India

India Looks to Move Poverty Line

India’s Supreme Court has asked The Planning Commission to revise where the poverty line currently stands. It currently stands that, according to Indian government, if a family in a rural area makes under 15 rupees (Rs) a day or if a family in an urban area makes under 20 Rs then they are considered to be living in poverty. As of now, the current numbers that The Planning Commission has put out say that it should be 32 Rs and under for urban families, and a rural family 26 Rs and under. Still, critics say these numbers are too low, considering that 25 Rs translates to 52 cents.

Although official numbers, from India, state that only 33% live in poverty, other estimates show that as many as 77% could be living in poverty. With 33% of India’s population already being in poverty, raising the number to which qualifies for poverty in India would only make that percent much higher. This would be bad for India in two ways, the first would be that to the rest of the world it would look like they were not taking care of their people and the second being that the more people they have in poverty, the more people they will be obligated to help out financially. This could especially be a problem because currently India has an inflation issue, it is currently at 9.78%, and the government sending out more money could only add to this issue. This leaves India to decide whether to avoid further inflation, or help out its many people currently suffering in poverty. It comes as no surprise that India, a state known for its corruption in politics, especially concerning money, is apparently choosing money over its people.

Liberal

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/redefining-the-poor/849943

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14998248

September 22, 2011 at 11:54 pm