Poverty

Assumptions Matter: Revisiting India’s Multidimensional Poverty Index

Even small methodological changes can impact poverty estimates, as illustrated by the results of the Niti Aayog's tweaking of the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Methodologies should not be…
▶14-Jan-2025
Sandhya Krishnan, Savita Kulkarni, Puja Guha, Amalendu Jyotishi, Neeraj Hatekar

A New Dawn? Can India Reverse Its Staggering Inequality?

How long will India’s working people live with a policy regime that concentrates unimaginable levels of wealth in a few hands and leaves millions of people struggling for food, healthcare, decent…
▶24-Feb-2023
Harsh Mander

Evolution of Demographic Thought and Concern for Human Well-being

Demography has been detached from political theory and political economy, and population is now considered a part of the problem. A new chapter emphasising the economic value of a population is…
▶19-Jul-2021
R.B. Bhagat

Is it a Case of 'Meat-versus-Planet'? Lessons for the Global South

Claims that the livestock sector is a high emitter of greenhouse gases have led to calls for moving towards plant-based diets. These prescriptions rest on flawed assumptions; they also ignore the…
▶06-Jul-2021
Aravindhan Nagarajan

A Moment for Civilizational Introspection

The devastating effects of the pandemic upon the working poor should be a recognition of the collapse of our moral centre as a nation and as a people. The elite have exiled the poor from their…
▶30-Sep-2020
Harsh Mander

Poverty in India

Contrary to appearance, measurement of income (or ‘money-metric’) poverty – by failing to be transparent about the assumptions and values informing it – can serve the purpose of apologetics.
▶19-Feb-2019
S Subramanian