STATISTICS: India's poor and the numbers game

Churumuri has an amusing little roundup of all the different and often-contradictory ways that people gauge the level of poverty in India (via IndiaUncut). Depending on the metric, it's anywhere from 20-something percent to 90 percent of the population. I quote liberally and without shame:

• 90 per cent: The Asian Development Bank said two years ago that “at least 90 percent of people” live on less than $1 a day in India, China and some Southeast Asian countries.
• 77 per cent: The columnist Praful Bidwai said in Bangalore this week that 77 per cent of the population lives on less than Rs. 20 a day, or half a dollar.
• 54 per cent: In May this year, Newsweek reported that in 1985, 93 per cent of India’s population lived on less than $1 per day; by 2005, it was 54 per cent.
• 52.5 per cent: The Washington Post, quoting the same World Bank, said in August 1997 that 52.5 per cent of Indians earned less than $1 a day.
• 50 per cent: Ramtanu Maitra wrote in Executive Intelligence Review in December 2006 that 450 million Indians (or a little less than 50 per cent) lived below the World Bank’s old definition of $1 per day per persion, and that 700 million Indians (or almost 70 per cnet) lived below the poverty line based on the World bank’s new definition of a minimum earning of $2 per day per person.

• Nearly 50 per cent: Seven years ago, Mary Motta asked if India should be so hung up on a moon mission when nearly half of its population lives below the poverty line.
• 33 per cent: Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad writes in the latest issue of Prospect that 300 million Indians (roughly 33 per cent) live on less than $1 a day
• 33 per cent: The International Herald Tribune, quoting the World Bank, said in Janaury 2006 that one in three earn less than $1 a day, i.e. 33 per cent.
• 30 per cent: The Christian Science Monitor, quoting the Indian census, says 30 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day; 78 percent on less than $2.
• 26 per cent: Social anthropologist Diana Wells, quoting the 2001 census, wrote in 2001 that the number of people who earned $1 a day had declined from 36 per cent to 26 per cent.
• 25 per cent: Xinhua news agency, quoting India’s minister for rural development and poverty alleviation, reported in 2002 that 260.25 million people earned less than $1 a day, which was a marked decline from 1993- 94, when 320 million people were below the poverty line.
• 25 per cent: Union Minister P. Chidambaram told Charlie Rose two years ago that the number of Indians earning less than $1 a day was 250 million, or slightly short of 25 per cent of the population.
• 20 per cent: A World Food Prize winning high school essay pegged the number of people earning less than $1 a day at 200,000,000 or 200 million, or a fifth of the population , i.e. 20 per cent.

More coverage at The Indian Economy blog.

Comments

[Jaya Kamlani]

Arun,

I am glad you posted this article, because this year I have read so many articles on poverty in India, and no two articles match when it comes to the astronomical number of poor. Also, some say these poor people live on less than $2/day, others say they live on less than $1/day; still others say it is less than 50 cents a day. I wish there was one reliable source for these figures. But the fact remains, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened tremendously in these haydays of India.

As I mentioned earlier, I am working with some people who are trying to find solutions to this poverty problem in India. If you leave it to the government, nothing will happen as it turns a blind eye to the poor of the country. The Indian government is in the hands of a few capitalists and industrialists. On the one hand, you have people like Mukesh Ambani building a one-billion dollar home in a country where one dollar goes a long way. On the other hand, there are farmers who are commiting suicide for a couple of hundred dollars - loans they cannot repay to the loan sharks. Such are the paradoxes of life in India. The situation has only worsened over the years.

Jaya Kamlani

[Indu Jagannathan]

Arun,

Yes, I agree that there is poverty in India. I also agree that it is very difficult understand when the numbers differ so much from each other.

It is high time to move away from such statistics - either on poverty or on 'India Shining' images of the BPO boom.

And let us talk about the small things that very simple people manage to do for their neighbours.
The more good we hear - the more we would be inclined about doing good. The more good we see, the more we begin to believe that we too can make a difference....

Positive reinforcement is the need of the hour.

[Jaya Kamlani]

Indu,

Do you work for an NGO? If so, where is it located? Could you please provide your contact information to Sreenivasan or Arun Venugopal and ask them to forward it to me. They have my email address. I could look up your organization info online, but please tell me what role you play for this NGO. Thanks much.

Jaya Kamlani

[Srinivasa Raghavan]

It seems that with statistical evidence, depending on what variables you look at, you can produce the results you want more or less depending on your agenda. Clearly some of the above persons and organizations in the list have an agenda of some kind. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics I suppose.

[Indu Jagannathan]

Jaya,

Your simple and forthright query has driven a nail on my head...

And looks like I would have to stand up and speak for myself.

Yes, I am a bit socially responsible and have initiated, driven and successfully impemented a few projects like the maintanence of my neighbourhood beach in Chennai and the raising of funds for a school for the poor in Siriperumbudur by selling Diwali sweets to corporates, to mention a few. My health problems brought down the momentum. Now, I do freelance writing projects that keep me occupied for a 6 hours every day and help me to help poor college going students pursue their studies ( my friends pool in as much as I do.)...so much so about my endeavours...I do hope to do better.

There are a number of NGOs that do a good job....Would you like to know about them? Or is there a particular NGO that you would want me to visit and understand better.

Indu J.