Editorial -- A micro strategy needed
The debate about the country's economic reforms process having an impact on poverty has been raging for the past many years. The government’s stand: it has been able to improve the standard of living. This is debatable. For, pertinent figures only point out that the ongoing reforms process has not contributed significantly towards alleviating poverty. Poverty needs to be to tackled at the micro level.

Reforms bypassing the poor
Seminars and debates to discuss poverty alleviation measures held in plush 5-star hotels over ten course meals have yielded precious little. For, even today the poor does not get even a square meal per day. This, even as the government spends crores of rupees every year on poverty alleviation measures. But again, figures do not support such government spending.

Poverty -- the numbers game
The worldover the belief is: do not trust the government. And, never trust the numbers revealed by the powers that be. India is worse off today than it was 11 years ago when the economy was opened up for liberalisation. However, liberalisation measures have not achieved much.In fact things appear to have moved backwards. Despite the country’s GDP being at eight per cent, the percentage of people living below the poverty line has remained static at 34-36 per cent for the past 10 years.

Do reforms have a human face?
Expectations ran high with everyone awaiting a millennium budget that would have harsh measures spelt out to drag the country out of the fiscal deficit quagmire. Finance minister Yashwant Sinha many felt would bite the bullet and introduce hard-hitting measures to better the economic health of India.

Issues in poverty alleviation
Poverty is a multi-faceted phenomenon manifesting itself in a vicious circle of low income, low consumption, poor health and education, poor skills and lack of job opportunities. As poverty affects people over long periods of time, the policies followed by governments in different countries to reduce its impact are both short-term and long-term in nature.

Poverty in Indian states
Poverty in normal parlance refers to income poverty, which is measured in terms of the inability of people to purchase the minimum required calories. The expert group on poverty appointed by the Planning Commission in 1993 had recommended that the definition of poverty be extended to include deprivation in basic needs such as education, health and shelter as also other basic amenities such as drinking water.

"Poverty is underestimated"
Statistical methodology as practised in India is full of flaws and tends to underestimate the level of poverty in the country. Dr M H Suryanarayana, professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, expresses his views FE-Thinktank.