During the election campaigning in Bihar in October this year Rahul Gandhi, the heir
apparent of the Indian National Congress proudly claimed, "Aapki Congress party
gareebon ki party hai, aapki party hai." ["Your Congress party is the party of the poor,
your party."]
After 63 years of an independence that was hard fought, such a statement made with a
sense of pride seemed pathetic to me.

it mirrors the reality we l ive in.  It talks of the thick skin all of us have developed…our leaders,
administrators, planners, implementers and benefactors. Otherwise, someone in the
crowd should have stood up and hurled a chappal in utter disgust.
India has perfected the art of remaining poor.

Poverty is the lifeline of this country. It , helps the rich and ruling class get richer. The poor are very important for our very existence and the fabric of our democracy.

The World Bank defines the poverty line at an income below Rs.21.60 per day in the
urban areas [a 500 ml. bottle of Pepsi] and at Rs.14.30 per day in the rural areas.
Around 421 million people in the eight states of UP, MP, Rajasthan, West Bengal,
Bihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand are below the poverty line. We proudly are
the largest democracy with a third of the world's poor.

We let food grain rot in the open but have not built food transportation and storage
systems across the country, to allow regular import of food grain.
We encourage large-scale migration of villagers into cities to create industrial slums
and a labour force for daily menial work.
We spend less than 0.5% of our GDP on agriculture and less than 5% on education.
We allow more than 200,000 farmers in debt due to failed cash crops to commit
suicide but will not create enablers to sustainable rural living.

 The poor are needed — for the middle class, the ruling class,
the earning class and the world-class. They are the means to an end. They are a
'necessary and sufficient condition', as an economist would say, for India to progress.
Otherwise, nobody can justify the condition more than 400 million of us are in after
63 years of self-determination. Mr. Gandhi would have felt ashamed thinking of those
words, leave alone gallantly using them, not once but 16 times while doing the rounds!!

We are truly unique in many ways.
The art of remaining poor is one such way.