US, China count their poor afresh. India looks away

Not counting the poor properly can prove politically disastrous for government

Measuring poverty seems to be the latest target for reforms. The US, the world's largest economy, is busy experimenting with a new methodology to count the poor. China, the fastest growing economy, has reset its poverty line. And India, as we know, has been debating fiercely a new poverty line.

These countries are not just estimating their poverty level but are also applying new methodologies to do so. Notwithstanding the obligation of spending more on supporting the poor, particularly in the face of an economic slowdown, the new estimates are adding a substantial number of poor to the respective lists. India is, however, an exception because the government is opposing its own new estimates arrived at after setting up more than one high level expert committee.