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
That was such a profound observation. The poorest of the poor live not only below the poverty line but below the radar of most such surveys and statistics. Also I want to say that often, those with simple lifestyles (let's say, for example, the Gond tribes, or the Irulas, or the Soligas) are not counted as people living with Nature; they are counted as poor, because poverrty is measured by how much money you have in the bank, not how much you are able to survive without it. I remember that movie, "The Gods Must Be Crazy." It made a valid point about the currency of currency. Deepa. On 9/26/07, Ingrid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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 >
