> Here are some facts for India. Things are even better in East and
> South East Asia.
>
> 1. India's National Sample Surveys show that the population below the
> poverty line has fallen from 36% to 27% of the total population in
> the previous decade...
Except that the leading expert I am aware on the National Sample Survey figures and methodology says that this suggestion of a decline in poverty is false. Albeit endlessly repeated by the neoliberals. In fact consumption has decreased for most people in India during this last 10 year neoliberal period. Of course the richest fraction has done very well.
Here is Jyati Ghosh on the subject (relying in part on the study of NSS figures by Abhijit Sen):
<http://www.macroscan.com/cur/feb04/cur090204Income_Inequality_India.htm>
in relevant part:
"But the most dramatic evidence is for the bottom 80 per cent of the rural population – well more than half of India’s total population. For these people, who now number nearly 600 million, per capita consumption has actually declined since 1989-90. In other words, even the official statistics of the government still show that more than half of India has lower consumption per person than more than 10 years ago, after a decade when national income were supposed to be growing at around 6 per cent!"
Ulhas, if you disagree, what is the basis of (and authority for) your criticism of the work of Jyati Ghosh and Abhijit Sen?
john mage