Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stressed that erasing of poverty from a nation which has almost 1.2 billion people will continue to remain a "pipedream" unless some definite measures are taken by the country to step up its growth rate.

Estimates have revealed that India's economy is expected to grow at least 7.2% over the ongoing financial year up-to March 31, but the same seems to be a little difficult considering the factor that the rate of poverty is at an all-time high as well.

Before the global financial crisis started to hurt India, the country had managed to post three consecutive years of at least 9% economic growth, and while it is true that the recession did not hurt the sub-continent as much as it had hit the Western countries and other developed nations, the impact was noticeable on the industries, especially the outsourcing and IT sector.

The World Bank has estimated that 76% of the population in India lives on less than $2 per day, and in such a country, to try and battle poverty, let alone erase it completely, seems to be a much far-fetched dream.

The PM has stressed that if the country's economy does not grow fast enough, providing education to the complete population and eradicating poverty would be a "pipedream", and considering the fact that India has managed to keep its growth pace quite strong, even when the whole world was struggling with a financial meltdown, it might just be possible to work towards achieving the goal.