Bracing to help teeming poor

Editorial Posted On Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Two news items caught my attention the other day. One contained details of a Supreme Court report recently released that sought to redefine poverty in the country. Widening the definition of poverty, the report authored by a former Supreme Court judge, Justice DP Wadhwa, said that every Indian with an income below Rs 100.00 per day should be considered as poor and eligible for official subsidies, including 35 kgs of grains for his/her family.Swelling the ranks of the poor, Justice Wadhwa's benchmark for determination of poverty would add 500 million people to the official tally of around 250 to 300 million poor. The Wadhwa report has the potential of acquiring the status of a statute if it is accepted by the Supreme Court after hearings slated for this month.One can really have no quarrel with the contention of Justice Wadhwa. In Rs 3000 a month a bread-winner can hardly provide shelter, food and healthcare for his/her family, leave alone education of his/her children in these days of high inflationary pressures, especially on the prices of food items. No wonder, therefore, hunger and malnutrition are stalking the country. That, of course, does not bother our politicians and that, precisely, is what the second interesting news item I referred to indicates.
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