The Previous Century Was Marked By India S Great Transformation From A Colonial Agrarian Economy To A Modern, Vibrating, Knowledge-Based Economy Within The Framework Of A Liberal And Secular Democracy. A High Annual Gdp Growth Rate Of Over 8 Per Cent Is Now Being Achieved On A Consistent Basis. The Rapid Economic Growth Has, However, Brought Only A Marginal Decline In Rural And Urban Poverty As Nearly 250 Million People, Constituting About 25 Per Cent Of The Country S Total Population, Still Remain Below The Poverty Line.The Data Relating To The Dimensions Of Poverty Is Startling A Whopping 350 Million People Are Illiterate, 150 Million Have No Access To Safe Drinking Water, 750 Million Lack Clean Sanitation Facilities And Are Prone To Diseases Resulting Therefrom, And 50 Per Cent Of The Children Eat Below Acceptable Nutritional Levels. Average Life Expectancy At Birth Has No Doubt Risen To 63 Years, But Infant Mortality Rate (Imr) And Maternal Mortality Rate (Mmr) Are Still At Unacceptably High Levels 57 Per 1000, And 3 Per 1000 Live Births Respectively. In Terms Of Human Development Index (Hdi), India Is Ranked 126Th Among The 177 Listed Countries. Even The Mentioned Statistics Do Not Fully Capture The Sheer Destitution And Misery Our Marginalized Sections Of Population Are Subjected To. The Poverty That They Endure Robs Them Of Their Human Dignity And Makes A Mockery Of Our Claims To Social Justice And Equity.Growth, When Unevenly Spread, Dwarfs Overall Prosperity. Hence, Bridging The Income Divide Is The Biggest Challenge For India. The Government On Its Part Has Launched Several Poverty Alleviation Programmes But They Have Not Brought The Desired Result. The Approach Paper To The Eleventh Five-Year Plan Has Laid Emphasis On Strategies That Accelerate Growth And Make It Broadbased.The Present Anthology Is Comprised Of Well-Researched Articles By Erudite Scholars Who Have Deeply Analysed The Problem Of Persisting Poverty In India. Various Factors Responsible For Such A Situation Have Been Studied And Ways And Means Suggested To Considerably Reduce If Not Eradicate Poverty.The Book Will Serve As A Valuable Reference Source For Students And Teachers Of Economics And Researchers On This Subject. It Will Also Be Useful For The Policymakers, Planners, Parliamentarians, Government Agencies And Ngos. Common Readers Concerned With The Overall Development Of The Nation Will Find It Highly Informative.

In The State and Poverty in India the author argues cogently that well-organised, left-of-centre parties in government are the most effective in implementing reform.

Poverty and income distribution in India, first published in 1974, brought together the global who's who of poverty research of that time. But over the years, out of print.

This thoughtful and challenging book affords an alternative vision of India's rise in the world.

Yet India's poor are not disenfranchised; they actively participate in the democratic project.

Inclusive growth needs to be achieved to reduce poverty and other disparities and raise economic growth. This book develops a poverty profile for India in view of the ongoing national and global efforts toward ensuring inclusive growth and bringing poverty levels down. This poverty profile will enable academics and policy makers to reassess and improve on the existing methodologies in estimating poverty rates, evaluate the effectiveness of existing poverty programs, and suggest alternative and complementary options for strategic intervention based on the lessons drawn from program implementation both at the state and national levels.

In its history since Independence, India has seen widely different economic experiments: from Jawharlal Nehru's pragmatism to the rigid state socialism of Indira Gandhi to the brisk liberalization of the 1990s. So which strategy best addresses India's, and by extension the world's, greatest moral challenge: lifting a great number of extremely poor people out of poverty? Bhagwati and Panagariya argue forcefully that only one strategy will help the poor to any significant effect: economic growth, led by markets overseen and encouraged by liberal state policies. Their radical message has huge consequences for economists, development NGOs and anti-poverty campaigners worldwide. There are vital lessons here not only for Southeast Asia, but for Africa, Eastern Europe, and anyone who cares that the effort to eradicate poverty is more than just good intentions. If you want it to work, you need growth. With all that implies.