The article “By global standards, India more equal than others” by Subodh Varma, appearing in TOI 3rd June 2007 is brazenly misleading and confusing to say the least!. The author has conveniently failed to point out that,
1) The comparison between various countries may not be accurate as the data comes from surveys covering different years and using different methodologies.
2) The data has been cleverly manipulated to misrepresent the current economic condition in India and does not corroborate his statements… “India is a land of contrasts: how extreme wealth exists cheek by jowl with shocking poverty. We see these contrasts everyday.” and “Over 70% of the population has a monthly per capita expenditure below the national average of Rs. 555. This indicates the low levels of income prevalent in the country …”
3) The author fails to recognize that the disparity metric by itself is not an indicator of well being of a people, as the author wants us to believe. Though the disparity ratio is stated to be higher in the US as compared to India, most of the lowest 10% in the US have all their basic needs (food, shelter and clothing) satisfied while 70% of the total populace in India are below the poverty line!
4) The data used in the article is a consumption data which indicates lower levels of inequality between the poor and rich.
Without understanding the statistical significance or the applicable relevance of the data, the author seems to have “cut and pasted” it from the Human Development report (http://hdr.undp.org) and cobbled together a confusing article. The author’s conclusion of “prosperity meaning unequal distribution of wealth and incomes” has been pulled out of thin air. It would appear that the article is more of a sponsored advertisement (India Shining!) than a reflection of the truth!