For Naresh and his customers yesterday in south Delhi, the Government's suggestion that an individual can "adequately" get by on so little was laughable. In the 60 years since independence, India has failed to throw off the spectre of poverty and hunger. Today, amid all the talk of a new "Shining India" and a growth rate of more than 8 per cent, hundreds of millions live lives of utter hardship.
While there has been the highly publicised emergence of a small middle-class, India is failing to deliver to the vast bulk of its people on indicators such as malnutrition rates and maternal mortality. The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute last year placed India 67 out of 88 countries listed in its global hunger index.
The fixing of a poverty line is hugely important because it is used to determine who is eligible to receive items from a public distribution system which provides subsidised food and fuel for the poor. Those who have below poverty line (BPL) status are eligible for more.
Aside from scorn from the country's poor, the Government's submission on the BPL drew an angry response from those involved in trying to ensure food security for the nation's still growing population of 1.2 billion people. In an open letter to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the planning commission which came up with the 32-rupee figure, activist Aruna Roy and other members of the Right to Food campaign urged him to withdraw his claim.
One of the challenges facing economists and politicians in India is that there is no single agreed measure of precisely how many people are living in poverty. According to the Government, using its own measure, around a third of the population is living below the poverty line. But others suggest the percentage is much higher.
In 2005, the World Bank suggested the global poverty line should stand at US$1.25 ($1.66) a day. By that measure, many more Indians would be classified as living in poverty.
In 2007 the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, a Government-sponsored study group, suggested that 836 million Indians survived on 20 rupees a day.
When viewed like that, the Government's claim that a family of five could get by on 4824 rupees per month (which works out as 32 rupees a day) may not be so extraordinary.
What is certainly true is that people manage to somehow survive on tiny amounts of money. Ratan Lal Sharma, who makes deliveries using the same bicycle-cart he has owned for more than 25 years, estimated his daily wage as 150 rupees. The 54-year-old, who is married with four children, two of whom have left home, said he received a BPL ration card two decades ago.
"There is no way a person can live on 30 rupees," he said. "If it had not been for the ration card we would have all starved to death."
Prahalad Singh, an activist and academic from Jaipur, said that despite so many people being affected by poverty, most educated and middle-class Indians failed to be moved by the issue.
"People are shocked but they don't want to do anything about it," he said.
Belatedly, the Government has had to backtrack on its proposal. Yesterday, Ahluwalia and the Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh, said that a new economic survey was under way and that this would be used to decide who was eligible for subsidies.
The new Food Security Bill due to be introduced later this year will also extend the number of those eligible for help. "The allegation is being made that the ... commission is trying to understate poverty," said Ahluwalia. "This is simply not true."
- Independent
