The merits of this article aside, Gini coefficients, that measure income inequality, have risen steadily in India since 1980 from 0.32 to 0.38. For the record, a Gini above 0.35 is generally believed to be unsustainable socially and politically. If it's any consolation the comparable Ginis for China are 0.32 and 0.40 and for the US 0.35 to 0.40 over the same period. Naturally, sheer arithmetic implies that greater income inequalities require greater rates of GDP growth to reduce poverty to the same extent.
What really makes India different are: 1. the sheer numbers of people living in poverty. The percentages living on less than USD 2 per day have declined by less than 10% from 89.6% to 79.9%over the same 20 year period. At 1.5 billion, that's about 1.2 billion. 2. the skews within India where rural and tribal communities especially in Maharashtra, parts of MP, Bengal, Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh have seen increases in both the absolute number and the percentage of people living in abject poverty. And all over India, but particularly in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and parts of UP the numbers living on under USD 0.25 per day are, in absolute terms, staggering. It's also important to note that many of the poorest, viz. those without legal status, migrants, nomads etc. are left out in the compilation of these statistics
