Reduction in ‘extreme poverty’ ... a sense of relief :::: Now the priority must be Job creation, Social security and greater Female participation :::: Poverty threshold could fall -- from 14.2 per cent in 2026 to 12.1 per cent by 2028

The World Bank report comes with a sense of relief for India. 

It estimates that the share of Indians living below $3 a day fell from 27.1 per cent in 2011-12 to 5.3 per cent in 2022-23. 

India lifts 496 million out of poverty in 12 years, extreme poverty plunges to 2.6%.

Its latest report, in October, puts the 2024 figure near 2 per cent, about 33 million people. On the older $2.15 line, the fall was from 16.2 to 2.3 per cent. 

Though in per cent terms the fall is significant yet in absolute numbers it is still quite large and given the fact that over 80 crore people "still depend" upon the government ration is still a cause of concern. 

The report, in fact, says it is a reduction in ‘extreme poverty’ which is synonymous with destitution. However, the milestone is significant as it shows the trend, a path that India is walking on.  

India’s sharp decline in extreme poverty is a major achievement. Now the priority must be job creation, social security and greater female participation  

Five states (Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh) held 65 per cent of the extreme poor in 2011-12 and delivered two-thirds of the decline.

Incidentally or otherwise ... all these five states are now BJP and NDA-ruled states and has Lotus party chief ministers. 

This report is indeed a moral booster but no cause for complacency or celebration as yet. 

Escaping destitution is not prosperity, and it does not make India a developed country. The $3 line works out to roughly Rs 60 a day, a survival benchmark drawn from the world’s poorest nations. At $4.20, the lower-middle-income line, about 216 million Indians remained poor in 2024.  

At $8.30, the upper-middle-income benchmark, 1.14 billion fall short.  Development means decent jobs, schools, healthcare and security, not merely the absence of hunger. The scars of malnutrition and poor schooling do not vanish when a household crosses a line.

This has happened over a period of more than a decade is significant as it shows that the path is right but pace is rather slow. 

Indeed, steady growth, rising rural incomes and a post-pandemic jobs recovery helped, but the Bank report also cites free and subsidised food transfers as a major factor. Yet another reason is plugging in leakages, which ate most of the Government doles. 

Digital direct transfers helped close leaks that once swallowed welfare. 

Besides, better reach of subsidies through targeted subsidies on cooking gas, toilets, electricity and housing has made a difference.  

Notably, India has not revised its national poverty line since 2009. 

The way forward begins with honesty.  Several challenges cannot wait. 

Jobs come first: only 23 per cent of non-farm paid work is formal, and youth unemployment of 13.3 per cent climbs to 29 per cent among graduates. Just 31 per cent of women are in paid work, an enormous untapped engine of growth.  

Describing the progress as "one of the fastest poverty declines in the world", the World Bank attributed the improvement primarily to strong consumption growth, rising employment, particularly among women, and expanded social transfers, including food subsidies.

India's poverty levels are expected to decline further over the coming years, although at a slower pace. The World Bank's projections suggest that poverty at the $4.20-a-day threshold could fall from 

-- 14.2 per cent in 2026 to 

12.1 per cent by 2028.

ends