“We are the only country where vested interests want to keep the figures high”
Even as the Centre is trying to find a face-saving solution to the issue of embarrassing poverty estimates put out by the Planning Commission, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Sunday wondered why people were picking holes instead of celebrating the fact that the number of people living below the poverty line had come down.
“We are the only country in the world where vested interests want to keep the poverty number at a high level,” he told journalists here.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the decision to have the poverty estimates measured by a technical committee after a furore over the Commission's estimate for 2009-10 that said those having a daily expenditure of Rs. 28.65 in urban areas and Rs. 22.43 in rural areas would be deemed above the poverty line.
Assailing the present debate, Mr. Ramesh said it was on measuring poverty rather than doing anything about it. ‘‘The issue had been trivialised.” India was a pioneer in poverty measurement, starting with Pitambar Pant's exercise in 1962, and the methodology had been refined over the years, he said.
No one could deny that poverty had come down. There were multiple ways of measuring poverty and what was needed was to do something about it rather than split hairs.
The Minister said the States had a vested interest in inflating poverty figures — to derive as much Central transfer of funds as possible.
It was desirable to have a universal social welfare programme but given the population size it was simply not possible fiscally to extend welfare schemes to all. There had to be some process to choose who needed to be taken care of. The best exercise was the automatic exclusion system, adopted in the socio-economic and caste census which provided for the exclusion criteria.
It was a relatively easy methodology to exclude people and then cover the rest of the population within the social welfare net and ensure them better living standards.
Mr. Ramesh wondered why government employees and taxpayers should be entitled to government's social welfare programmes.
Keywords: Poverty line issue, Planning Commission, Jairam Ramesh
I didn't expect this statement from Mr Ramesh. It is tantamount to
declaring "students can cheat in examinations provided they can score
high marks and raise the country's profile as an educational hub
statistics-wise".
I have read a similar critique of those against the new poverty
parameters in Hindu's arch-rival. There the calculations were done
solely on the basis of food, leaving out housing, electricity and
sanitation costs. Will those be provided free of charge?
Mr Ramesh's subsequent statements are relevant, that the states often
give erroneous poverty statements to get money from the Center, money
which is more often than not misused. But the headline is either
printed and taken out of context, or deserves to be condemned.
Firstly, It is not poverty which has declined, it is the level of politics which has declined. Secondly People's respect and their intelligence in the eyes of these oppurtunistic politicians has certainily declined. They have played with numbers and lowered the poverty line itself, and now up with their brazen faces,suggest to congratulate each other. Thumps down!!!
Mr.Ramesh is ,I think,holding record for opening his mouth for
making Wrong noises at Wrong Time.
He is a Central Minister and supposed to be responsible.What was his necessity to make this UTTERLY INSENSITIVE and Careless observation about poverty.As a part of the Govt.and the Party he is ALSO responsible for the Failure of our planners to take care of
the people's needs and the state of their affairs.
Hindu has done very poor service to the nation by including this in
its pages
Indian politicians can be aptly described as 'Merchants of Mirage'.
Because the figures that show poverty has declined are flawed. Poverty has not been declined in any case, just that your (Congress government's) flawed calculations tell poverty is declined. So we don't buy your flawed calculations.
Can Mr. Ramesh live on 22 rupees per day. If a family of 4 each is given let us say 100 rupees per day what can they get. Some PDS ration atta to make chapathis and some vegetables. this means they would have to spend that money on rice atta oil fuel vegetables. I would like to see Ramesh buy all these for a family of 4 for 3 meals per day. Yes welfare cant be given to all people however if the country spends money on developing rural infrastructure like roads, agricultural silos toilets water pipes borewells etc then they would be creating many millions of jobs which in turn would create higher wages for these people then there would not be a need to provide welfare isn't it simple maths. All these drama to fool the world bank guys who are visiting India soon. Stop pretending you are providing any welfare as this money is not sufficient for people to eat even one meal leave alone 3 per day. Or is it that you think poor can reduce their stomachs to ensure they consume only one meal.
I wonder how a responsible and honourable minister can talk in such
a way. I think if we increase the price of food items that are
served in the Parliament canteens as per the recent market prices,
may be, the ministers and those who are batting for such a meagre
amount is enough to lead a life in urban and rural areas will think
before arguing in favour of the estimates that are recently
published.
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