Conclusion

We have travelled about six decades since Independence. The stated objective of all our policies has been to promote rapid and balanced economic development with equality and social justice, and poverty alleviation has always been accepted as one of India's main challenges by policymakers, regardless of which government was in power.

The absolute number of poor in the country has gone down, and some states now have a smaller proportion of poor than even the national average. Yet critics point out that even though vast resources have been allocated and spent, we are still far from reaching the goal. There is improvement in per capita income and the average standard of living, and some progress has been made towards meeting basic needs — but compared with the progress of many other countries, India's performance has not been impressive. …