Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?

Institute for Population Sciences] that provides guidance for the National Family Health Survey because the survey came out with results on open defecation, etc. that were not to the liking of the government. Look at the suppression of many audit reports like the Clean Ganga mission. Look at the fact that we haven’t even had a Census yet, four years after we are supposed to have started this process. Look at selective publication of partial reports that do not provide all the usual details, whether it was the Economic Survey before the Vote on Account this year, which came out more like a propaganda sheet than an actual Economic Survey, or even this particular consumption report which does not give us sufficient details. This is something of deep importance because we had one of the best statistical systems in the world for a low to middleincome country, and for this to be destroyed in a very blatantly politicised way is a serious problem.

NITI Aayog’s CEO argues that more people are spending on items beyond just basic food stuff like cereals. Isn’t this a sign of economic progress? JG:

Absolutely. But this has to happen with an increase in income, right? This is not a surprise and it certainly is valid. It’s also true that as there is much more mechanisation, much less walking etc., you need to eat less cereals and you should have a much more balanced and nutritious diet. But you know there’s a new United Nations report that just came out and it says 74% of the Indian population cannot afford the minimum nutritious diet prescribed by the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) for South Asia. So, we are still very far behind.

SB:

In the 1980s, we all thought calories were an important indicator of poverty. A survey in the U.S. at that time said that 80% of American women were malnourished according to caloric consumption standards. Thankfully the World Bank has changed and got to an absolute income level by which to define poverty.

JG:

Nutrition is a critical part of wellbeing. The indicator that is produced by 12 UN agencies put together does not rely on only calorie consumption. It is a much more sophisticated indicator and it’s on that basis that they have realised that 3/4th of the Indian population cannot afford the minimum nutritious diet.

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