Sir — Poverty has been an issue that, since independence, has only gained political mileage with every successive Government. However, efforts to wipe out the malaise through the years have only been restricted to slogans sans sincerity. A case in point was been the Garibi Hatao campaign which served Indira Gandhi’s election bid in 1971. The programme was designed to gain public support. However, the population of the poor who continue to have a listless existence in the country over the decades has increased manifold. The data from the Socio Economic and Caste Census is shocking, and shows that slogans don’t work by themselves.
It is appalling that in nearly 75 per cent of rural households, the chief earning family member makes less than Rs5,000 per month. While rural India is essentially agrarian, over half the households are landless. Just one in 10 households has a salaried job