It was revealed by the Planning commission to the Supreme Court that merely those villagers, who earn less than Rs 26 a day and people living in the city and earning less than Rs 36 a day shall be considered poor and shall get help from the government.

These new standards for poverty measurement and management have sparked angry reactions from social activists and economists, who are of the view that this is totally unfair and should be reconsidered. Poverty control in India is a topic that has been lingering around in the nation's to-do-list for long time, but no concrete steps have been taken to curb the same.

Obviously, there is no definite way to find out what standard life is and what sum of money is required to live the same, as different people have different needs as their basic requirements. It is essential to give up such categorization and work for the collective improvement of the nation's poverty struck people and help to bring them upwards on the scale of living standards.

Effective planning and risk management is essential to build thresholds that actually work for the benefit of people rather than to make life difficult for them.