Now it is emerging as the focus of IDS research on 'The Politics and Organisation of Anti-Poverty Programmes'. In 1998, IDS Fellow Anuradha Joshi conducted research on the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Programme in India, talking mainly with grassroots social activists. These ideas have major implications for the way that governments, aid donors and NGOs think about anti-poverty programmes. IDS will be following up these ideas in its research. IDS Bulletin Vol.
Poverty is multi-dimensional.
Rather than being conceived in merely income terms, poverty should encompass social and human capital, access to common property, and political rights. But some suggest that income poverty will suffice as an adequate proxy as it is highly correlated with the other dimensions of poverty and is the means to achieving these ends. I believe this view does not hold up since the correlation is imperfect, the causal mechanisms from income to some other dimensions of poverty are far from clear, and because it is better to use output rather than input indicators to measure welfare. There is also a debate between those that believe that aiming for growth is the single most important policy and those who focus on social investment and building human capital. The World Bank argue that increasing income is the most reliable and sustainable way to achieve welfare improvements.