Poverty in India: research and policy

The causes, nature and eradication of poverty in India have been subjects of long debate. In the colonial period the main preoccupation of writers was with the poverty of India, which was traced to exploitation by the imperial power. After independence the instruments of policy became national and the debate shifted inwards to address poverty within India. This process of enquiry has influenced and been influenced by government policy for the mitigation of poverty and inequality. Poverty has thus been an intensely practical concern and research on poverty has grown in scope and sophistication over the years, with a parallel evolution of public policy and expansion of programmes relating to poverty alleviation. The papers in this volume examine various aspects of research and policy and the interaction between them.
The first section of the book is devoted to general trends in poverty and its measurement: the relation of poverty to economic and demographic change, its spatial variations, and its incidence over time in rural and urban areas. In the second section anti-poverty interventions-the Integrated Rural Development Programme, employment and nutrition interventions and social security-are evaluated. The final section opens up perspectives on poverty as a complex condition manifested not only in resources and their handling but also in welfare, autonomy, access and power. Using the results of field research, the perspectives of the poor, and especially of poor women, are discussed. The capacity of the legal system to protect the rights of the poor is also critically examined.