Book Launch : The Great Indian Poverty Debate -Â New Delhi, June 21, 2005
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The World Bank in partnership with the Indian Planning Commission, the India Development Foundation, and Macmillan India sponsored a book launch in New Delhi on June 21, 2005 of The Great Indian Poverty Debate, edited by Angus Deaton, Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and Valerie Kozel, Senior Economist at the World Bank. Â
Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, gave the keynote address in the opening session chaired by Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist for South Asia at the World Bank.  The research papers contained in the volume grew out of a workshop sponsored by the Planning Commission and the World Bank in New Delhi in January 2002.
The poverty debate covered by this volume started up in the late 1990s when poverty measures based on the National Sample Surveys----the data used for all official measurement of poverty in India---began showing a slower decline in poverty than that suggested by the growth in the measure of average consumption from the National Income Accounts statistics. The debate was fuelled by the release of the data from the 1999/2000 National Sample Survey, which included design changes that made it difficult to compare its results with earlier surveys. The official estimates from the 1999/2000 Survey, which were published in February 2001, showed a very large decline in poverty rates, and did nothing to settle the debate. The joint Planning Commission-World Bank workshop in 2002 was a response to this situation, and led to the papers contained in the Great Indian Poverty Debate.  "The volume highlights the many sides to this debate, and its release now is very timely because of the lessons that it suggests for the evolution of poverty measurement in India, particularly as we await the data from the next major round of the National Sample Survey that will be available to researchers in early 2006," said Shekhar Shah, Economic Advisor for South Asia at the World Bank,
Agenda of the Workshop
Welcome by Dr. Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, South Asia Region, The World Bank
Keynote address -- Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India
Book launch by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and vote of thanks by Mr. Sanjay Sethi, Chief Publisher, Macmillan India
Presentation on The Great Indian Poverty Debate
-- Prof. Angus Deaton, Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs and Economics, Princeton University
-- Dr. Valerie Kozel, Senior Economist, The World Bank
Panel discussion: India's Poverty Alleviation Strategies and Implications for Measurement
Moderator : Shubhashis Gangopadhayay, Director, India Development Foundation
Panelists:
-- Dr. Arvind Virmani, Director, ICRIER
-- Dr. Bibek Debroy, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies
-- Professor Bharat Ramaswamy, ISI, New Delhi
-- Dr. Pronab Sen, Adviser, Plannning Commission
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