800 million people

Second, India doesn’t have a social safety net for the unorganised sector. Do we need one with universal coverage? Is there a broad national consensus on its features, the implicit burden-sharing, as well as the fiscal choices involved?

Third, while there is no substitute to sustained high growth for poverty elimination, it is clear that growth alone may not ensure desired outcomes. Well-targeted public intervention is inescapable. But we need to integrate and optimise our multiple and often overlapping efforts.

Fourth, while reduction in extreme poverty is an index of our success, we cannot avoid revisiting issues of how poverty is defined. The commission recognises that revisiting the official poverty line is the “first step towards recognition of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty” and that it is perhaps overdue. But it has done little to dwell further on the issue and invigorate the ongoing national debate on poverty definition and amelioration.

We can ill-afford to overlook the compelling needs of the 800 million people who remain poor and vulnerable even while we celebrate our new prosperity.