Nearly 836 million people in India live on less than Rs 20 a day, according to the findings of the Arjun Sengupta report on the Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the unorganized sector. Technically, a large chunk of these 836 million Indians 77 per cent of the country's population are above the poverty line i.e. at Rs 12  per day.

But the reality is that they remain dismally poor, comprising largely of STs, SCs, OBCs and Muslims, according to the report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the Unorganised Sector. This is the the first authoritative study on the state of informal or unorganised employment in India, compiled by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), a government-affiliated body. A staggering 394.9 million workers, or 86 per cent of India's working population, toil in the unorganised sector, which means they work without a social security cover. Nearly 80 per cent of these workers are among those who live on less than Rs 20 per day.

The report is based on government data for the period between 1993-94
and2004-05.

The big justification for economic reforms was supposed to be the trickle down effect but for those who live in these conditions. More than a decade of economic reforms seems to have made little difference. Is it any wonder that those leaders who are seen to be reformers can never win the popular vote?

NCEUS chairman Dr Arjun Sengupta said:These are the discriminated, disadvantaged and downtrodden. People who live on Rs 20 or less per day are the real poor and vulnerable.

Sengupta told HT that Rs 20,which signifies consumption pattern, is an indicator of the person's income andsaving. If people do not earn, how will they spend or save? he added.

Agriculture, the report found, was a fertile ground for poverty, especially for small and marginal farmers, 84 percent of whom spent more than they earned and were often caught in debt traps.(compiled from  reports from IBN  &  Indian Express)