Feast for Thought

The dishonesty in counting the poor Excellent and hard-hitting... but targeted at people, already thick-skinned, who fortify themselves in air-conditioned boardrooms located on the top floors of glass edifices. These 'planners' look at figures on paper and at numbers crunched out by lifeless statistical codes, and then doubtless carry out extremely specialised normalisation and other adjustments.  Reminds me of the STORY about a group of scientists who tested a particular pattern of monkey behaviour ("monkey ladder banana experiment")

The planning commission should get out of air conditioned rooms and sit among the slum-dwellers in cities or / and set up camp near village panchayat locations. To do that of course, they should first step out of their coat, suit and tie, and get into more comfortable local wear that suits the outdoor weather. Believe me, their thinking will undergo a change for the better! I am not being cynical. This is a seriously sincere suggestion. Vanishing poverty trick - The Hindu Indian Boardrooms