Citizen Direct at India Together: Who is poor?

11 March 2005

The Indira Kranthi Patham (Velugu) is Andhra Pradesh government autonomous and statewide anti-poverty initiative. The project aims to enable the rural poor in the state, particularly the poorest of the poor, to improve their livelihoods and quality of life.

As part of the planning phase, Velugu undertook a process called �participatory identification of the poor� (PIP) statewide to understood how the poor perceived being poor in their own terms, as opposed to government statistics. The identification process used over 15000 resource persons to cover 45000 habitations in 22 districts and brought out the following results:

� 142,09,166 Rural Households in the state � 55% (78,83,479) of the households were poor � 18% (25,79,484) were ultra-poor.

In contrast, official statistics assess poverty in a bipolar fashion, stating that 15% of AP is considered �below poverty line�. The rural people�s perception of poverty on the other hand is deeper and distinct from official discourse. The PIP process was partly responsible for this articulation come out. One of the key aspects of this process was a well-being analysis that trained Velugu staff conducted with the people.

Project officers found out that �not having respect� was considered a poverty factor by people. The people also felt that those �who could not attend private schools� were �poor� and those �who could not attend even government schools� were ultra-poor.

As part of the PIP process, officers reconfirmed the data collected in the Gram Sabha. Gram panchayat resolutions finally validated this classification of households.

• Vijay Kumar, CEO, Indira Kranthi Patham, AP; [email removed]

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