A recent study led by Sonalde Desai, a sociologist and professor at University of Maryland, College Park, and National Council of Applied Economic Research, challenges the notion that the relationship between people and poverty in India is linear even as the economy has grown rapidly over the last two decades. As opposed to millions of people escaping – or being lifted out of – chronic poverty over time, the study finds that people move in and out of poverty depending on life’s circumstances such as natural disasters, illness and other financial shocks. https://scroll.in/article/1077617/millions-lifted-out-of-poverty-in-india-but-many-still-lead-precarious-lives-on-the-edge
This phenomenon is called transient poverty, and it is difficult to measure because of lack of real-time data on households
Even as Indians are escaping poverty, according to Desai, they get placed on “a precarious perch where a single accident, natural disaster, or epidemic could push them back into poverty”.
Both Desai and Krishna singled out healthcare-related financial shocks as the top reason behind transient poverty in India. In 2011-’12, out-of-pocket expenditure on health drove 55 million Indians into poverty
"There are certain parts of India where there aren’t doctors, where there aren’t medical facilities,” Krishna said. This year, the government spent only about 1.2% of GDP on healthcare, according to The Lancet.
by Rohit Inani, IndiaSpend.com
12/01/2025