Tag Archives: poverty counting

A brief history of poverty counting

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Infographic_BPL_take3
 
Posted in Infographic, Infographics, Issue 6: Reading between the Lines, On The Contrary | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Who are the poor? – The practitioner’s view

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Variations in state norms and practices for assigning BPL status thus significantly influence the ability of the poor to avail a common bundle of centrally sponsored schemes and programmes.

We spoke to grassroot practitioners and organisations that are working with the poor to provide them access to rights and entitlements that are due to them. A snapshot of responses: “We do not believe in targeting” - Ulka Mahajan, Anna Adhikar Abhiyaan, Maharashtra  We do not believe in targeting. We think that the ‘Below Poverty Line’ [...]

 
Posted in Ground Reality, Interviews, Issue 6: Reading between the Lines, Views, Voices | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Vision Correction: Escaping the Poverty Line

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
census-enumerator25538f_indiatalkies

by Reetika Khera The Planning Commission’s recent affidavit to the Supreme Court has had one positive fallout: it is has generated a long overdue debate on the need to revisit the policy of capping the coverage of some important government programmes using official poverty lines (currently Rs. 32/day in urban areas and Rs. 26/day in [...]

 
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Coping with Blind Spots: Poverty Lines, Poverty Headcounts, and Anti-Poverty Policy

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Prayas Issue 6: Poverty Counting

One thing is clear from the recent academic, media, and policy discussions on poverty in India: there are many reasonable truths and few consensus facts. To what extent have the number and proportion of the poor in India changed over time? The picture depends on how one adjusts for differences in the survey instrument used [...]

 
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Counting the Poor in India

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Infographic_BPL

by Rathish Balakrishnan (Click over the image to see the infographic in better resolution.) Where it all began The history of counting the poor in India can be dated back to the 19th century. The earliest effort to estimate the poor was Dadabhai Naoroji’s “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India” in which he estimated a [...]

 
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Identifying with States

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Variations in state norms and practices for assigning BPL status thus significantly influence the ability of the poor to avail a common bundle of centrally sponsored schemes and programmes.

by Charis Elizabeth Idicheria A number of central, state and local government bodies regularly and collectively, albeit not always concertedly, determine whether households in India are Below the Poverty Line (BPL), and the concurrent benefits they are entitled to receive. The Centre has guidelines that delineate both the means of identification and the number of [...]

 
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Paradigm shift: From poverty to vulnerability

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
The vulnerability survey has been conceived as a dynamic one, with information on families updated constantly. Pic courtesy: Alexander Dey

by Swathi Shivanand A new localised experiment is moving away from the highly debated poverty line and identifying those who are in actual need of support. A look at the ongoing ‘vulnerability’survey in New Delhi. There is no perfect method for accurately distinguishing between poor and non-poor. At some point, any effort based on consumption, [...]

 
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Poverty Counting – Mankur: Technology is a mixed bag

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Jadhav Singh had his BPL card changed to an APL one post computerisation. The switch has made it difficult to support a family of 20 members. Pic: Shobha SV

by Shobha SV Mankur is a village in Patdi block of Surendranagar district, Gujarat. Before 2011, there were 30-40 families who were classified as ‘Below Poverty Line’. Cut to the present, there are three families. How did the poor become not-so-poor suddenly? Well, some answers lie with computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in [...]

 
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Vision Correction: SECC 2011: Can it deliver?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Census enumeration in progress

by Himanshu and Rinku Murgai The Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 currently underway is being canvassed jointly by the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) and the Registrar General of India (RGI). However, even before the results of the SECC are made available, it has come under considerable [...]

 
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Poverty Counting – The Pardhi Community: a de-notified existence

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Prayas
Despite a government resolution passed in 2008 to give every member of the tribe a BPL card, several families haven’t been given one. Pic: Shobha SV

The Pardhi community is one of the de-notified tribes in the country. Commonly perceived as thieves since colonial times, most members fled to Mumbai from their villages in Marathwada in the 1960s. Despite a government resolution passed in 2008 to give every member of the tribe a BPL card, several families haven’t been given one, [...]

 
Posted in Current Edition Article, Ground Reality, HealthCare, Housing, Issue 6: Reading between the Lines, Livelihood, Voices | Tagged , | 1 Comment