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Unknown Facts

-Over the past five years, poverty ratios have remained extremely high despite rapid GDP growth; 77 per cent of Indians survive on Rs20 or less a day. While the top 10 per cent earn First World annual incomes such as Rs5 crores, the wretched of the earth must make do with Rs7,000 a year.

-An additional 100 million people have been driven into poverty by two decades of “free-market” or neoliberal policies. India’s Human Development Index rank has slipped from 121 in 1991 to 134.

-In the Global Hunger Index of the International Food Policy Research Institute, India ranks 65 (of 88 nations). Pakistan’s rank is 58.

-Despite two decades of rapid GDP growth, India scores worse than its neighbours, barring Bangladesh, and also worse than over 20 Sub-Saharan African countries which have experienced economic collapse, civil war, famine and genocides during the past quarter-century.

-None of the 17 major Indian states surveyed falls in the “low” or “moderate” hunger category. Twelve states fall in the “alarming” category, and one — Madhya Pradesh —in the “extremely alarming” category. Four states — Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Assam — fall in the “serious” category. On a global scale, India’s best-performing state, Punjab, ranks 34th.

-Food grains availability in India has decreased from 200 kg per person a year at the beginning of the 20th century to under 170 kg. As a result, 33 per cent of Indian adults have a body-mass index (weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of height in metres) less than 18.5. (The normal range is 18.5 to 25. People under 18.5 are malnourished, those above 25 obese.)

-If the Wadhwa Committee’s report is adopted, the number of families treated as Below Poverty Line (BPL) would rise to 200 million, in place of the 105 million estimated by the states and the 92.5 million by another official committee.

The EGoM’s draft is minimalist, reneges on the promise of nutritional security, and perpetuates today’s collapsing PDS which supposedly only targets BPL families. Estimates of their number vary from 28 to 50 per cent of the population. These estimates are based on convoluted methods and are unreliable.

The more reliable National Sample Survey (2004-05) found that only one-half of the poorest households had a BPL card. Worse, many non-poor people use influence to illegally procure a BPL card and corner PDS grain.

PISA & TIMSS Confirm Low Quality of Indian Education

Indian students rank near the bottom on PISA, a global test of learning standards conducted in 74 nations this year. TIMSS, another standardized international test, produced similar results earlier in 2003.

This is the first time that Indian students participated in PISA. Students from Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took theProgram for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, coordinated by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Prior to this participation, students from Indian states of Orissa and Rajasthan took a similar test called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2003.
Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh rank high on human development indicators among Indian states. The India Human Development Report 2011, prepared by the Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), categorized them as “median” states, putting them significantly ahead of the national average. IAMR is an autonomous arm of India’s Planning Commission. (more…)

Mera Bharat Mahan !

-According to a new Oxford University study, 55 percent of India’s population of 1.1 billion, or 645 million people, are living in poverty. Using a newly-developed index, the study found that about one-third of the world’s poor live in India.

-As measured by the new index, half of the world’s poor are in South Asia (51 percent or 844 million people) and one quarter in Africa (28 per cent or 458 million). While poverty in Africa is often highlighted, the Oxford research found that there was more acute poverty in India than many African countries combined. Poverty in eight Indian states—Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal—exceeded that of the 26 poorest African countries.

The study examined poverty across 28 Indian states, concluding that “81 percent of people are multidimensionally poor in Bihar—more than any other state. Also, poverty in Bihar and Jharkand is most intense—poor people are deprived in 60 percent of the MPI’s weighted indicators. Uttar Pradesh is the home of largest number of poor people—21 percent of India’s poor people live there. West Bengal is home to the third largest number of poor people.”

-Only 31 percent of India’s population had access to improved sanitation in 2008.

Another study that used a household income of $US2 a day as the poverty benchmark found that India not only has more poor people than sub-Saharan Africa, but also has a higher level of poverty. In India, 75.6 percent of the population, or 828 million people, live below the poverty line as compared to 72.2 percent, or 551 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the 1950’s modern bread used to cost 10 paise, 1971 – 75 paise, 1980 – Rs 1.0, Today – Rs 16. All thanks to uninterrupted deficit budgeting . The definition of poverty line is something like Rs 3500 per YEAR and 27% of the population is below it. If you take the poverty line to be something to be more realistic like Rs 3500 per MONTH – you would have 70% of our population below the poverty line.