Poverty has been degrading human lives for centuries. Reduction
of poverty will be one of the greatest achievements of any
economy. As a matter of fact, India's performance in this
regard the recent years has been among the best in the world.
The prowess of India in the field of Information Technology
(IT), biotech, pharmacy and various other manufacturing
segments, etc., is being recognized all over the world.
According to the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO),
this high growth has led to a decline in the incidence of
poverty _ from 26% in 2000-2001 to 22.15% in 2004-2005,
i.e., the poorer sections of the population reduced from
320 millions to 260 millions. In spite of these improvements,
most of the health indicators and poverty-related education
still show disturbing rural-urban gaps and a wide variation
across the states.
The Bharat Nirman Program, which was started two years
back, emphasizes on the alleviation of poverty through the
development of rural infrastructure. Its objective is to
ensure that the benefits of various government schemes for
the underprivileged reach the targeted poorer sections.
The government has to take the lead in generating new knowledge
among the rural masses and remove knowledge disparities.
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