Recently I read an article in the New York Times in which the ‘developing India’ was compared with America. The article explained “How India Became America1 .” Obviously, the idea is fantastic especially when the USA is still considered as one of the most free and most prosperous country of the world. While one can debate that the US itself is becoming poorer and less free, it will certainly be an interesting idea to check for the claims offered in that article. However, poverty is a relative pattern and everyone is poor in some sense. India Planning Commission under the headship of Montek Singh Ahluwalia offered a distinctive definition of ‘being poor’ which says, “anyone spending over Rs 28.65 a day are not poor,” or a person spending less than Rs 28.65 is poor. Obviously, it is very difficult to lead a rich life with less than One Dollar for a Day in your pocket. Thus, this definition of being poor is certainly irrational and that is what was expressed by our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he scrapped the Planning Commission’s report and said, “We need a multi-layered approach …Read the Rest
