Poverty Line
Manu Joseph: India would do better if it starts treating all Indians as well-off rather than poor
What holds the country back are the low standards we set for ourselves, with India's widespread poverty serving as the typical pretext. This needs to change for our standards to go up. Thinking of all Indians as upper middle class would make a difference.
4 min read29 Dec 2025Manu Joseph: What 'Homebound' reveals about poverty and hope in modern India
The film Homebound' cues an unsettling thought: Is poverty today more painful because hope is everywhere? The modern world has been selling everyone a path out of despair without letting people know how devious it could be.
5 min read21 Dec 2025Can private actions alleviate extreme poverty in India? Every little bit you do could eventually help
Many wonder what they can do to improve the conditions of those living in abject poverty in India. Everyone can contribute, from business leaders and researchers to teachers and journalists. Though their efforts may seem weakly linked with visible outcomes, they could work wonders over time.
4 min read27 Nov 2025Why India's new income survey won't address key questions around poverty and inequality
For the first time in decades, efforts are underway to conduct a household income survey. But widespread reluctance to disclose incomes and the absence of comparable past data mean it can't assess how poverty has evolved in India. Nevertheless, it will enable much-needed discussion on inequality.
3 min read13 Nov 2025Two Indias: Extreme deprivation and lofty economic goals reveal stark disparities that must be addressed
There are parts of India where people still live in stark deprivation. We must not lose sight of them amid all the talk of artificial intelligence, high-tech medical procedures and fast economic growth. The benefits of growing GDP and technology must reach all.
4 min read12 Nov 2025Manu Joseph: Zohran Mamdani wants to fight inequality but can those who benefit from a system really bring it down?
People born to privilege rarely act against it, even when they seek public office on a platform of social justice. Zohran Mamdani's rise in New York politics raises an uneasy question—can those who benefit from inequality truly be the ones to end it?
4 min read9 Nov 2025Dani Rodrik: The world needs a new economic playbook to tackle its biggest challenges in a fractured world
The world's biggest issues—climate change, middle-class decline and poverty—demand new policy approaches. Industrial policy must be updated to account for the needs of a green transition and manufacturing's reduced job-creation capacity. For this, local policies will fare better than top-down ones.
3 min read9 Nov 2025Kerala becomes first Indian state to declare itself free from extreme poverty
The initiative involved identifying beneficiary families through collective feedback and suggestions from all sections of society.
1 min read1 Nov 2025The world has lifted millions out of poverty but the climate crisis could undo decades of progress
With global climate talks scheduled shortly at CoP-30 in Belém, Brazil, a new UN report delivers a stark warning: the world's success in lifting millions out of poverty may be at risk of reversal, as global warming deepens deprivation and exposes the poorest to a cruel double burden.
2 min read29 Oct 2025Kaushik Basu: Is the emphasis on self-interest in economic theory rewarding a few at the cost of the many?
Are we being led astray by an academic discipline that has long treated self-interest as rational? Growing inequality and political manipulation expose its limits. To secure freedom, fairness and prosperity, we must pursue global cooperation in our collective interest before it's too late.
4 min read19 Oct 2025