Covid has pushed too many Indians back into poverty
3 years, 8 months ago

Covid has pushed too many Indians back into poverty

Live Mint  

As the world continues to be ravaged by the covid pandemic, more than a year on, it is becoming increasingly evident that the greatest burden has fallen on the global poor. By contrast, for India, a staggering 75 million people were pushed back into poverty by the covid crisis—this is almost 60% of the global total increase in poverty caused by the pandemic. India’s lower middle income category lost 35 million people, and the country’s middle class shrank by 32 million, many of these, evidently, accounting for those who slipped back into poverty. The covid crisis in India has undone years of progress in combating poverty and also reversed several years of gains in drawing those in lower and lower middle income groups into the country’s middle class. India, in particular, suffered a serious GDP contraction last year, and even the prospect of higher growth this year, which could give India back its crown as the world’s fastest growing major economy, has reduced the chances of achieving the government’s putative goal of making India a $5 trillion economy anytime soon.

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History of this topic

Study estimates 11.9 lakh excess deaths in 2020 during pandemic, 8 times more than official
5 months ago

Study estimates 11.9 lakh excess deaths in 2020 during pandemic, 8 times more than official

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi, In India, 11.9 lakh excess deaths occurred in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 per cent higher compared to 2019, an international study has found. Study estimates 11.9 lakh excess deaths in 2020 during pandemic, 8 times more than official The estimate is about eight times higher than the official COVID-19 deaths in India, and 1.5 times the …

India’s hidden COVID deaths: Was the toll in 2020 eight times higher?
5 months ago

India’s hidden COVID deaths: Was the toll in 2020 eight times higher?

Al Jazeera  

India had nearly 1.2 million excess deaths in 2020, new data shows. New Delhi, India – India’s actual death toll during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world’s most populous country could be eight times higher than the government’s official numbers, reveals a new study. The numbers in the research, based on the Indian government’s 2019-21 …

Basic survival no longer an issue in India, says Niti Aayog
5 months, 1 week ago

Basic survival no longer an issue in India, says Niti Aayog

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi: India has made significant progress in eliminating poverty, especially in the past nine years, and according to Niti Aayog’s SDG Index 2023-24, the country is expected to achieve the SDG target 1.2 of halving multidimensional poverty much ahead of 2030. In 2022-23, it further dropped to 11.28%, with 24.8 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 …

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?
9 months, 1 week ago

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?

The Hindu  

Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average consumption expenditure in the bottom 5% of India’s population, as estimated by the survey, is about the same as the poverty line in India, suggesting that the poverty rate in India is somewhere in the range of 0 to …

Multidimensional poverty: Can we eliminate it within a decade?
11 months, 1 week ago

Multidimensional poverty: Can we eliminate it within a decade?

Live Mint  

Going by Niti Aayog’s latest assessment, India has made substantial gains in its fight against deprivation. The Niti Aayog’s index has a formula that echoes what the United Nations Development Programme uses for multidimensional poverty, with parameters that differ slightly. Since the central think-tank’s 12 counts include several that targeted programmes can move the needle on—like nutrition, child mortality, sanitation, …

India’s triumphs over poverty marred by an alarming hunger crisis as over 70 per cent of Indians fails to afford healthy food
1 year, 5 months ago

India’s triumphs over poverty marred by an alarming hunger crisis as over 70 per cent of Indians fails to afford healthy food

The Hindu  

Published : Jul 21, 2023 12:38 IST - 3 MINS READ Government think-tank NITI Aayog’s recent report, released on July 17, revealed a remarkable achievement in India’s fight against multidimensional poverty. However, despite these positive strides in economic development, a consortium of esteemed organisations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, …

415 mn Indians no longer poor, says UN
1 year, 5 months ago

415 mn Indians no longer poor, says UN

Live Mint  

As many as 415 million Indians moved out of poverty in the 15-year period between 2005/2006 and 2019/2021, the UN said in a report on Tuesday. “Countries halved their MPI in periods as short as four to 12 years, demonstrating the feasibility of the Sustainable Development Goal target of halving poverty according to national definitions within 15 years,” it added. …

Claims of spike in poverty in India during COVID-19 patently false, says paper co-authored by Arvind Panagariya
1 year, 9 months ago

Claims of spike in poverty in India during COVID-19 patently false, says paper co-authored by Arvind Panagariya

The Hindu  

Claims of a spike in poverty and inequality in India during the COVID-19 pandemic are patently false as such claims are based on uncomparable different surveys, according to a paper co-authored by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya. Mr. Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Vishal More of Intelink Advisors, New Delhi have co-authored a detailed paper …

Despite India's economic growth, few jobs and meagre pay for urban youth
1 year, 11 months ago

Despite India's economic growth, few jobs and meagre pay for urban youth

The Hindu  

Ravi Verma, hired by an electrical parts manufacturing firm early last year as India’s economy surged, was fired in November when the company lost several export orders. “I face a risk of loan default if I don’t get a job soon.” The urban unemployment rate swelled to 10.1% in December, although the total number of jobs in India touched a …

Latin America faces ‘prolonged crisis’ following pandemic: UN
2 years, 1 month ago

Latin America faces ‘prolonged crisis’ following pandemic: UN

Al Jazeera  

A UN report on Latin America and the Caribbean warns that nearly 45 percent of youth live below the poverty level. A report by the United Nations has said that Latin America and the Caribbean could face a “prolonged social crisis” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean …

We’ve made significant progress on poverty reduction
2 years, 1 month ago

We’ve made significant progress on poverty reduction

Live Mint  

Some great news and some not so good news. Titled Unpacking Deprivation Bundles to Reduce Multidimensional Poverty, the report is based on robust household survey data from 111 underlying developing countries and covers 6.1 billion people. As India’s population has quadrupled in the 75 years since Independence, India’s progress on poverty reduction has been steady, particularly in the last 30 …

Pandemic in perspective
2 years, 2 months ago

Pandemic in perspective

The Hindu  

Published : Oct 06, 2022 09:30 IST Over the last two years, numerous books and articles have been authored on the socio-economic fallout and policy shortcomings pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Making of a Catastrophe: The Disastrous Economic Fallout of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India By Jayati Ghosh Aleph Books, 2022 Pages: 296 Price: Rs.799 More specifically, Ghosh provides …

India's support to poor during COVID-19 remarkable, says World Bank president
2 years, 2 months ago

India's support to poor during COVID-19 remarkable, says World Bank president

The Hindu  

India's support to the poor and needy during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis is remarkable, and other nations should adopt the Indian move of targeted cash transfer instead of broad subsidies, World Bank president David Malpass said on Wednesday, October 5, 2022. The incomes of the poorest nations gained ground, Mr. Malpass said in the forward to a study ¬ Poverty …

How Modi’s India Has Succeeded in Bringing Down Poverty in Rural Areas
2 years, 5 months ago

How Modi’s India Has Succeeded in Bringing Down Poverty in Rural Areas

News 18  

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This oft-cited quote is attributed to Lord Kelvin or William Thomson, who also theorised a completely new temperature scale. The poverty line has been disaggregated state-wise and separately for rural and urban areas. In one of the most cited essays on poverty, Lipton and Ravallion note: “The highest incidence and severity …

Income Inequality Declined in India During Covid-19, Nation Managed Shocks Well: SBI Report
2 years, 5 months ago

Income Inequality Declined in India During Covid-19, Nation Managed Shocks Well: SBI Report

News 18  

Inequality of Income in India has declined significantly since FY17, while inequality has also declined during the pandemic, according to the latest SBI Ecowrap research report. The decline in income inequality has been significant since FY17, the year of big bang formalisation that started with demonetisation, RERA reforms and GST reform in FY18, said the report authored by Soumya Kanti …

The post-pandemic economic question
2 years, 7 months ago

The post-pandemic economic question

Hindustan Times  

Unless there is a surge in Covid-19 deaths — India has learnt to manage its economy better in every successive wave — the economy is unlikely to suffer any unexpected shocks. This brings up the most important post-pandemic question: What is India’s growth potential and has the pandemic left any permanent scars on this ability? Reserve Bank of India ’s …

Economy may take more than a decade to overcome COVID-19 losses: RBI report
2 years, 7 months ago

Economy may take more than a decade to overcome COVID-19 losses: RBI report

The Hindu  

The Indian economy may take more than a decade to overcome the losses caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reserve Bank of India’s Report on Currency and Finance. Taking actual growth rate of 6.6% for 2020-21, 8.9% for 2021-22 and assuming growth rate of 7.2% for 2022-23 and 7.5% beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 …

Settling India’s COVID-19 mortality data
2 years, 7 months ago

Settling India’s COVID-19 mortality data

The Hindu  

Over the last year, the World Health Organization has been busy, in an unprecedented effort, to calculate the global death toll from COVID-19. There are gaps Several news reports have pointed at a significant gap in India’s COVID-19 story — significantly under-reported mortality figures. Because as in these figures, India would have had close to four times the COVID-19 deaths …

COVID: Too soon to say the worst of the pandemic is behind us
2 years, 8 months ago

COVID: Too soon to say the worst of the pandemic is behind us

The Hindu  

WITH the war in the Ukraine grabbing most of the headlines, the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly ceased to be the number one news item at the global level as it had been for a lengthy period of time until recently. The World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published on April 12 states: “uring the week of 4 through 10 …

An honest reckoning: On simmering dispute between India and WHO about COVID deaths
2 years, 8 months ago

An honest reckoning: On simmering dispute between India and WHO about COVID deaths

The Hindu  

The visit of Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, to Gujarat for the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit coincides with a simmering dispute between India and WHO on its forthcoming report on excess COVID-19 deaths between 2020 and 2021. A report in The New York Times claims that WHO estimates India accounted for four million deaths, or …

Ending extreme poverty in India
2 years, 8 months ago

Ending extreme poverty in India

Hindustan Times  

Two recent working papers, one by economists Sutirtha Sinha Roy and Roy van der Weide, at the World Bank, and another co-authored by Surjit Bhalla, an executive director at the IMF along with Arvind Virmani and Karan Bhasin have given alternative estimates for poverty in India for the period after 2011. Bhalla and his co-authors argue that extreme poverty has …

India averted rise in extreme poverty through Modi govt's food security scheme: IMF report
2 years, 8 months ago

India averted rise in extreme poverty through Modi govt's food security scheme: IMF report

India TV News  

Highlights A new IMF paper found that extreme poverty in India is less than 1 per cent in 2019 The extreme poverty in India remained at that level even during the pandemic year 2020, it stated PMGKAY was critical in preventing any increase in extreme poverty levels in India, the report said India has averted the rise in extreme poverty …

Union Budget 2022-23: Will govt give booster shot to tackle rising inflation?
2 years, 10 months ago

Union Budget 2022-23: Will govt give booster shot to tackle rising inflation?

India Today  

Rising inflation has taken a massive toll on Indian households as economic disruptions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic continue to impact jobs and incomes. In view of deteriorating income and the rising cost of essential goods, millions of households are expecting the government to provide some form of relief in the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. Poorer and middle income households …

Oxfam report says over 16 crore more people forced into poverty in two years of pandemic
2 years, 11 months ago

Oxfam report says over 16 crore more people forced into poverty in two years of pandemic

The Hindu  

The first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic saw incomes of 99% of humanity fall and over 16 crore people were forced into poverty even as the world's ten richest men saw their fortune more than double to $1.5 trillion at a rate of $1.3 billion a day, a new study showed on Monday. The world's ten richest men saw …

Loss of income, rise in health expenses: How the Covid pandemic has made Indians poorer
3 years ago

Loss of income, rise in health expenses: How the Covid pandemic has made Indians poorer

India Today  

Sample these: 65.6 per cent households in lower-income countries reported financial reasons for not accessing healthcare during the pandemic; global poverty rates have increased for the first time in decades; 9.7 crore additional people have been pushed to extreme poverty in 2020 due to Covid. “The global poverty rate has increased for the first time after the 1997-98 Asian financial …

'No time to spare': WHO says Covid disrupted health services, pushed half a billion into poverty
3 years ago

'No time to spare': WHO says Covid disrupted health services, pushed half a billion into poverty

India Today  

More than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets, the World Health Organization said in a press release highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on people's ability to obtain health care facilities. "Even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, almost 1 billion people were spending more …

Pandemic has affected poor more: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
3 years, 3 months ago

Pandemic has affected poor more: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

Deccan Chronicle  

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the Covid-19 pandemic has severely dented inclusivity across countries. In the medium to long-run, both efficiency and equity will greatly matter for sustainable growth and macroeconomic performance.” The impact of pandemics could be a lot more asymmetric by affecting the vulnerable segments more. Overall, there are evidences across countries …

US Census data shows COVID pandemic unwound progress on poverty
3 years, 3 months ago

US Census data shows COVID pandemic unwound progress on poverty

Al Jazeera  

The poverty rate in the United States rose to 11.4 percent in 2020 after reaching a 60-year low in 2019. U.S. household income fell in 2020 while the national poverty rate rose from a 60-year low as the Covid-19 pandemic upended the U.S. economy and threw millions out of work. The poverty rate rose one percentage point to 11.4% after …

Explained: Is India's economy gaining immunity against Covid-19?
3 years, 3 months ago

Explained: Is India's economy gaining immunity against Covid-19?

India Today  

India’s economy is on track to rebound sharply after two waves of the Covid-19 pandemic dampened growth during all four quarters of FY21. A majority of financial analysts predict GDP growth at 18-20 per cent in the June quarter and remain optimistic about economic recovery in upcoming quarters as the second wave fades and more Indians get vaccinated against the …

Vulnerable groups caught between two worlds amid lockdowns
3 years, 4 months ago

Vulnerable groups caught between two worlds amid lockdowns

The Hindu  

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the catastrophic consequences of the public health system remaining largely underfunded in India. A nationwide study on three vulnerable groups during the pandemic published recently said: “Public health measures are rarely apolitical, and, as the situation in India shows, can be experienced as forms of exclusion and repression for vulnerable groups of people.” The study, …

Poverty in India is on the rise again
3 years, 4 months ago

Poverty in India is on the rise again

The Hindu  

India has not released its Consumption Expenditure Survey data since 2011-12. Based on the Tendulkar poverty line, the poverty estimates for 2004-05 and 2011-12 are to be found in the Planning Commission’s own estimates using the CES of those years. Hence, we have extended the 2011-12 poverty line for each State and used the consumption expenditure reported by the PLFS …

Friendships, reciprocity, and diplomacy in the time of Covid-19
3 years, 5 months ago

Friendships, reciprocity, and diplomacy in the time of Covid-19

Hindustan Times  

Over the past few months, India has found itself in the throes of a cruel second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sohini Bose and Kabir Taneja note the centrality of India’s historical and socio-cultural linkages with South Asia and West Asia in their respective chapters. Similarly, in identifying the prevalence of nascent geopolitical trends in assistance received by India, Sreeparna …

India’s pandemic death toll could be in the millions
3 years, 5 months ago

India’s pandemic death toll could be in the millions

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — India’s excess deaths during the coronavirus pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country. It said an accurate figure may “prove elusive,” but the true death toll “is …

State of working India 2021: The pandemic’s impact on the economy in India
3 years, 5 months ago

State of working India 2021: The pandemic’s impact on the economy in India

Hindustan Times  

This report documents the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty. On top of this, there were legacy problems such as a slow rate of job creation and lack of political commitment to improving working conditions which trapped a large section of the workforce without access to any employment security or social protection. …

Covid-19 pushed 119-124 million people into extreme poverty: UN
3 years, 5 months ago

Covid-19 pushed 119-124 million people into extreme poverty: UN

Live Mint  

NEW DELHI: The coronavirus pandemic, which surfaced at the fag end of 2019, has so far pushed 119-124 million people into extreme poverty worldwide, the United Nations said on Saturday. There is a need for countries to enact policies that are coherent and inclusive, the UN said, adding that access to vaccines is of utmost importance to “build back better”. …

The pandemic has ended the illusions of “emerging” economies like India.
54 years, 11 months ago

The pandemic has ended the illusions of “emerging” economies like India.

Slate  

Last month, I walked down to a nearby drugstore, a Duane Reade on John Street in lower Manhattan, paused for the doors to slide open, and entered the First World. Since vaccination need not be a priority, his party stayed occupied with other grand designs: controversial agricultural laws, steamrolled through Parliament despite mass protests; a monumental building project, refashioning imperial …

The state of India’s poor must be acknowledged
3 years, 6 months ago

The state of India’s poor must be acknowledged

The Hindu  

The son of a corn merchant-turned sociologist, Charles Booth had little patience for Charles Dickens and others in his time, who used lyrical prose to describe the desperation of the poor in working class London. The first being, the fall in the monthly per capita consumption expenditure of 2017-18 for the first time since 1972-73, which the Government withheld citing …

How are rural communities stemming covid-19’s spread?
3 years, 6 months ago

How are rural communities stemming covid-19’s spread?

Live Mint  

Three weeks ago, a 32-year-old father of three in Uttarakhand’s Mori tehsil died of covid-19. “Last year, covid-19’s effect was on our finances, as all of us in the village are dependent on tourism.” This time, it’s different. The community and NGO mobilisation has definitely helped, as we are building infrastructure not just for the current wave but for the …

Indian economy, hit by COVID-19, shrinks by 7.3% in 2020-21
3 years, 6 months ago

Indian economy, hit by COVID-19, shrinks by 7.3% in 2020-21

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — India’s economy, pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, contracted by 7.3% in the 2020-21 financial year, just before the country was hit by another catastrophic surge in infections. Daily new cases set global records, spurring many states to announce widespread restrictions and lockdowns. In January, a government survey estimated the economy -- previously one of the fastest growing …

The economic crisis is real; the picture of economic resilience is an illusion
3 years, 6 months ago

The economic crisis is real; the picture of economic resilience is an illusion

The Hindu  

As the ongoing second wave of coronavirus infections in India peaks, there is little clarity on what its economic fallout is and will be. Two assessments from official sources—one from the Reserve Bank of India, titled The State of the Economy and the other from the Ministry of Finance, titled Month Economic Report for May—seem to suggest that economic trends …

Covid-19 and the disease of inequality
3 years, 6 months ago

Covid-19 and the disease of inequality

Hindustan Times  

Abandoned by the State that insisted on locking down, refusing to recognise the damage done to their livelihoods, India’s workers asserted their rights and made themselves heard by walking home in March 2020. Ironically, the scale of the health crisis has rendered invisible the deepening livelihood crisis that India confronts, drowning out the voices that fought a callous State and …

India’s economic report card is drenched in red ink
3 years, 6 months ago

India’s economic report card is drenched in red ink

Live Mint  

India’s nascent economic recovery has been derailed by the second covid-19 wave even before it could gather steam. Launched in October 2018, Mint’s macro tracker provides a monthly state-of-the-economy report based on trends in 16 high-frequency indicators across four segments: consumer economy, producer economy, external sector, and ease of living. A year ago, during the first nationwide lockdown, 13 of …

Counting the COVID toll in India
3 years, 7 months ago

Counting the COVID toll in India

The Hindu  

Last year, in these columns, I wrote about the many challenges in estimating deaths due to COVID-19 in India. Based on the World Mortality Dataset — the largest international dataset of all-cause mortality encompassing 89 countries — researchers estimated excess mortality and reported that it exceeded the number of reported COVID-19 deaths in these countries by over 1.6 times. WHO …

Covid-19: Top economist says India might face 'serious livelihood crisis'
3 years, 7 months ago

Covid-19: Top economist says India might face 'serious livelihood crisis'

India Today  

India might be heading towards a “serious livelihood crisis” as the situation seems to be worse this time for the working class amid the COVID crisis and local restrictions by states already add up to something close to a nationwide lockdown, according to noted economist Jean Dreze. Read | V-shaped recovery unlikely as India’s economy faces tougher Covid test About …

Covid spreads in villages: How best can India fight this challenge?
3 years, 7 months ago

Covid spreads in villages: How best can India fight this challenge?

India Today  

As rural India begins to reel under Covid infections, India Today TV Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai speaks to top experts to understand how best to fight this challenge. DR. VED PRAKASH, HOD, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE, KING GEORGE’S MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW: The real crisis is the lack of healthcare infrastructure in rural India. POONAM MUTTREJA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, POPULATION FOUNDATION OF …

In Covid-hit India, 23 crore people earn less than Rs 375 per day: Study
3 years, 7 months ago

In Covid-hit India, 23 crore people earn less than Rs 375 per day: Study

India Today  

India's economy staged an impressive recovery after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the alarming rise in poverty tells a different story about the country’s future economic outlook. “An alarming 90 per cent of respondents in the Azim Premji University CLIPS reported that households had suffered a reduction in food intake as a result of the lockdown” the …

EXPLAINER: Why India’s pandemic data is vastly undercounted
3 years, 7 months ago

EXPLAINER: Why India’s pandemic data is vastly undercounted

Associated Press  

Even after more than a year of devastating coronavirus surges across the world, the intensity and scale of India’s current crisis stands out, with patients desperate for short supplies of oxygen, pleas for help from overwhelmed hospitals, and images of body bags and funeral pyres. If one person gets tested in the house and reports they’re positive and everyone else …

Second Covid Wave Poses Downside Risks to India's Economic Growth: S&P
3 years, 7 months ago

Second Covid Wave Poses Downside Risks to India's Economic Growth: S&P

News 18  

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the second wave of Covid infections poses downside risks to India’s GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. Last week another global rating agency Fitch had projected India’s economic growth in current fiscal at 12.8 per cent, while Moody’s Investors Service had earlier this month said that the second wave of Covid infections …

World has failed India, says top US adviser Dr Fauci as surging Covid cases ravage country
3 years, 7 months ago

World has failed India, says top US adviser Dr Fauci as surging Covid cases ravage country

India Today  

Dr Anthony Fauci, US's chief medical adviser, has said the world and wealthier nations, in particular, have failed India, which is now overwhelmed with the massive number of Covid-19 cases and deaths being recorded every day. "The only way that you’re going to adequately respond to a global pandemic is by having a global response, and a global response means …

Covid-19 Disrupted Food Security For Millions; Will Likely Reverse Progress on Ending Hunger by 2030: Dr Harsh Vardhan
3 years, 8 months ago

Covid-19 Disrupted Food Security For Millions; Will Likely Reverse Progress on Ending Hunger by 2030: Dr Harsh Vardhan

News 18  

The Covid-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the food security and nutrition for millions of people around the world, and will likely reverse the progress made towards ending hunger by 2030, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has said. Addressing the 54th Commission on Population and Development on the theme Population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development’ here …

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