The Concept of Poverty: Myth and Reality

Abstract

To achieve a better understanding of poverty in India vis à vis its conception in Africa, it should not be assessed only from a Western perspective. Most surveys are inaccurate as 90 per cent of the labour force is employed in the unorganised sector. In official figures, 75 per cent of all Indians are poor, yet there are 800 million cell phones in the country, showing that a majority can afford them. The authors of this article point out that a vast improvement in incomes has taken place in most rural areas; 12 per cent of the world's consumers are Indian and farm income being nontaxable is largely disposable and helps generate high growth rates. A conclusion is that using income disparity to calculate poverty levels is misleading; definitions of poverty are partly cultural, as shown by comparable official estimates in various Western and Asian nations. The lack of transparency in reporting income by all those who do not rely on regular salaries makes it even harder to evaluate India's real poverty statistics.