A game of beggars.

Something called a Tendulkar Committee ( Suresh as opposed to Sachin ) has calculated that the line dividing the ordinary poor from the abject poor is an earning of Rs 33 per day. This has generated extremely heated arguments since last year. While TV anchors have been screaming about how impossible it is for any human being to survive on a meager income of Rs 33 a day, in an attempt to increase ratings, self appointed pundits have argued gravely on how how a family of 5 with each member earning Rs 33 per day amounts to a combined earning of Rs 4950 a month, which is what lots of low-paid people survive on anyway. Now the Planning Commission has claimed that the ratio of poverty has fallen from 37% of the population in 2004-05 to 22% in 2011-12, which is a reduction of 138 million in the number of poor people. Again a fierce debate has broken out on what constitutes a poverty level and whether the figures are totally fairy tale, to make the Congress look good. To add spice to the arguments one politician has claimed that it is possible to get a full meal for Rs 12 in Mumbai while another one, not to be beaten, has claimed that one can obtain a meal in Delhi for Rs 5. This was calculated to be a red rag to the bull sending all TV anchors into a frothing frenzy. Teams of journalists, who normally write ignorant articles sitting in their air-conditioned offices, went out to investigate the minimum amount of money to buy the cheapest meal from a dhaba or a roadside vendor. So called economists have written articles based on calculations of the minimum wage earned by laborers. TOI, 4 August. What is amazing is the cheerful acceptance of poverty as a fact of life. There is no sense of shame that 66 years after independence, of which the Congress or its stooges were in power for 58 years, people are arguing about what constitutes abject poverty and if people are above some arbitrary line determined by a committee then everything is fine and the Congress is entitled to another glorious victory in elections. Congress politicians are quick to point at the US or Europe when increasing taxes so why do they not look at these countries to find the lowest level of poverty. In western countries your maid will come in her own car an will have central heating in her home. But without legions of naked poor politicians cannot justify looting taxpayer money for social schemes to bribe the poor. Hence the game of beggars. Keep people poor by giving them handouts and do not allow them to become rich by spending on infrastructure. Parasites.