"When I see it I know it," a US Supreme Court judge once said cryptically about obscenity. It is the same with poverty. When all the number-crunching is done, the lines of poverty defined and redefined, poverty is about the adivasi starving in Bolangir or Kalahandi, the widow of an Andhra Pradesh weaver driven to suicide, the drought-stricken in Rajasthan. Their poverty can only be alleviated if there is a redistribution of assets, an even and rapid spread of healthcare and education, and the creation of sustainable livelihoods More...