(Top) Lord Meghnad Desai and Nitish Kumar in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Noted economist Lord Meghnad Desai used to be a strong advocate of former chief minister Nitish Kumar’s economic policies and special status to Bihar. Till Friday.

At ADRI’s foundation lecture on ‘Can Poverty Ever Be Abolished’, the two differed. While Lord Desai stressed that poverty could not be abolished and only the poverty line could be made more elastic, Nitish maintained poverty had to be eradicated.

Lord Desai said poverty was earlier defined on the basis of calories consumed by people, but we now include factors like education, employment and access to other facilities. “Poverty line increases with increase in income. Poverty can never be eradicated because we don’t want it to end,” he said. “It should be ensured that nobody starves, but nobody should be worried about population and urbanisation,” Lord Desai said, adding while corruption affects the fight against poverty, it cannot be an excuse for abject poverty.

India has had an ongoing National Sample Survey wherein poverty level is based on calorific count. “Estimates of the poverty rate in Indian can range from 22 to 80 per cent, depending on whether you take Tendulkar, World Bank or Arun Sengupta as your measuring rod,” Lord Desai said. Poverty rates go up, as the country gets richer in terms of per capita income, he said.

Nitish, who presided over the function, recalled the controversy over identification of BPL. “The Centre has earmarked just 65 lakh families in Bihar as BPL families. Our count points at 1.4 crore families. “The identification has become more important after the food security act has come into force. I still hold the view that an independent commission should be formed to identify BPL population. Without an independent commission, the blame game between the Centre and state governments will continue,” Nitish said. He also said that despite growth in income, stress should be given on distribution so that schemes reach targets. “Bihar was a victim of regional imbalance. If investments are coming, it is important to know where they are going,” he said.