Letters: Financially insecure

T N Ninan in his column "3 pols x 3 wonks = ?" (Weekend Ruminations, August 31) asks whether Sonia Gandhi really thinks that two-thirds of India's people go to bed hungry. Sadly, this number may not actually be of those going hungry to bed. An even larger number is financially insecure in India. A November 2012 Technical Note by the Center for Global Development based on India's National Sample Survey of 2009-10, estimates that the size of the financially secure Indian middle class (defined as those with $10 purchasing power parity per capita income a day) is only 70 million. So, food support to that section of Indians who are not yet financially secure - that will give a much-needed boost to nutrition and health of India's children - should perhaps not be grudged by the better-off.

Those of us who do not subscribe to the Jagdish Bhagwati view that all money and facilities should first be allocated to the rich and only the trickle-down effects of the consequent GDP growth should go to the poor, will find both the Right to Food and the Land enactments not only wise but overdue.

Alok Sarkar Kolkata

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A clarification

Alok Sarkar’s letter, incorrectly identifies the Center for Global Development as a part of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The Center for Global Development is an independent organisation and is not affiliated with the Peterson Institute.

Catherine An  Media Relations Associate, Center for Global Development Washington DC