1. India suffers from a lot of poverty, w]Monthly per capita consumption expenditure is below Rs. 356.35 f

2. Global Institute. This study found 54% of the people living in India were livingon a household income of less than90,000 rupees a year. That means about a dollar per person per day.National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS)published a report in 2007. This reportstate, 77% of Indians (that means 836 million people), lived on less than 20 rupees per day (USD0.50 nominal,USD2.0 in PPP). Most of them have no job or 3. One of the problems withestimating poverty in India is alack of consistent and reliablenumbers. McKinsey study quotedabove (46% at $1 a day or abovefor a household size of 5) is offby a factor compared to 77%under $0.5 a day by NCEUS. Toadd insult to injury here are someindustry numbers that do not fit 4. [4]in Jan 2008; about 400 million in mid 2009 and slated to easily cross 500 Million[5]in 2010 with acurrent growth rate of over 10 million new cell phones a month. A growth that is clearly not abating. At$20-$200 per cell phone and $0.02-$0.04 a minuterate, it is a luxury that folks earning $1 a day cannot afford after paying for food, housing, clothes.2001 numbers for basic amenities from census bureau [6]for percentage household reach were Bi-cycles(45%); TV (31%); radio (33%) do not fit well with77% under $0.5 a day. All these numbers tally well with industry news. Do note this is 2001 census, about 7 years before 77% under $.5 a day wascomputed. These are amenities households at $1 a day per person cannot afford let alone those with $0.5 aday per person. The country has grown between 5. The Developmentalist View: According tothis view, India suffers from poverty due tocolonial exploitation.The Neoliberal View: According to thisview, the following are the causes ofpoverty. Unemployment and underemployment Lack of property rights Dependence on agriculture High population growth rate Caste system 6. Street children in India selling snacks and drinks to bus passengers