Tuesday, March 20, 2012

“Poverty line” and the “Rich line”

Indian middle class is making fun of the new poverty line at Rs. 28. They are pointing out how difficult it is to live with Rs. 28 and how they spend Rs. 150 for a dinner. I totally agree with them, but instead of making fun of the poverty line they should realize that there are a lot of people who does live below Rs. 28 when they spend Rs. 150 for dinner, maybe the rich spend Rs. 10000.

Just by putting the poverty line at Rs. 50 will not make poverty go away. Are you ready to reduce your petrol subsidy? Are you ready to take more taxes? Are you ready for more railway ticket charge? No, I do not think so. Without that this outrage is fake and empty.

The focus of the government should be on the poorest of poor and the poverty line should be adjusted according to the number of people under it. If there are more poor people below Rs. 10, then that should be the line. If 50% people lives below Rs 20, then that should be the poverty line.

Poverty “reduced” but inequality is growing. I ‘m sure those super rich will drop more bread crumbs that the poor can eat. Like the poverty line there should be a “rich line”. Just having income tax limit is not enough. But talking about the upper class is a sin even for the middle class. I think we just replaced caste system with money.

That brings me to another question. If the poor people are the majority in India why isn’t the democratically elected government’s policies directed at benefiting them directly? How can we spend money hosting big events when majority of our people are hungry? How can we buy the fighter jets from UK/Europe? Some democracy we have.