Indian Planning Commission's Poverty Shenanigans
Indian planning commission is out with yet another poverty estimate . They released this estimate yesterday which announced a decline in the incidence of poverty by 7.3 per cent over the past five years and stating that anyone with a daily consumption expenditure of Rs. 28.35 and Rs. 22.42 in urban and rural areas respectively is above the poverty line. Any sane person with a sensitive brain will immediately spot the planning commission shenanigans in these estimates. Let aside the whole gimmickry of measuring poverty, the poverty line [sic] which they have used to measure [sic] poverty - viz., 28.35 rupees in urban and 22.42 rupees in rural areas - is a cruel joke on the poor people of this country. In their lust of lowering the poverty numbers to win elections and bureaucratic positions these planning commission members and those phony economists have sold their souls and forgot that 28 and 22 rupees is not even going to buy a decent one time meal for anyone in this highly infla...