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I had a journey

Reading about FOSS philosophy, degoogling, becoming against corporations, and now a full-blown woke communist (like Linus Torvalds)

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  • So, just to be clear. You're saying we should accept that poverty reduction is happening in India despite the fact that they hide their numbers. Did I get that right?

    • No, I think we should read an article thoroughly before misquoting it and looking really silly.

      • So, what part am I misquoting. Do be clear. As far as I can tell, you are saying that I'm wrong because you believe the numbers indicating poverty decrease in India despite the fact that India hides the actual numbers. That's your argument is it not?

        Seems that reading the article critically is what you refer to as misquoting.

        • No, my argument is that you misread it, because you were trying to use it as proof that poverty was getting worse. The article said nothing about that.

          I think using sources that you've misread and are quoting to incorrectly makes for bad messaging.

          • I'm starting to get the impression that you didn't actually read the article. It talks about poverty decreasing using the numbers that are publicly available from India while also pointing out the following:

            The survey data leaked to the media showed that poverty had increased in India. Without official data on poverty in a country hosting the largest number of poor in the world, agencies were not able to make an exact estimate of global poverty, whose eradication is the Sustainable Development Goal 1 to be achieved by 2030.

            It' also concludes that India contributed to an overall poverty increase globally which is another indirect indicator of poverty actually increasing there:

            With the addition of India’s new poverty data to the global system, the number of poor has increased. “The global poverty headcount in 2018 is revised slightly up from 8.7 to 8.9 per cent,” says the World Bank, adding, “The 2017 PPPs (purchasing power parities) by themselves reduce global poverty, which is more than offset by the new estimates for India that increase global poverty.”

            Hope that helps.

            • Your two quotes are referring to two different survey counts. Let me explain how this works: it's impossible to get an exact count down to every individual, you survey a population sample and then make estimates based on your population sample. This can be done by both government and private agencies.

              Here are the two different surveys from the article broken down:

              The NSSO survey, done by the Indian government, not officially released, but leaked to the media. All this article tells us about the results of this survey is that "poverty had increased". No years, no numbers, no percentages. Just three words.

              The CMIE survey, done by a private company, used by the World Bank. We at least have the numbers for this survey, which says poverty has more than halved from 2011 to 2019. However, the World Bank already assumed that poverty would be decreasing rapidly, and put out global poverty estimations based on rapidly decreasing poverty before

              When you quoted the World Bank as saying

              The global poverty headcount in 2018 is revised slightly up from 8.7 to 8.9 per cent

              That was referring to CMIE survey results being less optimistic than original World Bank projections.

              I did make a mistake, I didn't credit you for the NSSO survey, which did indeed support your point. I think that's why you misread the conclusion of the CMIE survey. I think it's sus af the government won't release it, but I'm also a scientist. All we have from it is, "poverty had increased". Imagine I presented to you a new article that said nothing about poverty rates in China except "poverty had increased", how much would you value that piece of information?

              • You are correct that the published data indicates an overall decrease, just not as much as originally claimed. And you're of course right to say that a leaked report alone with a general statement regarding poverty increase isn't necessarily convincing. However, there is a lot of other indirect evidence showing that the poverty problems in India are quite dire today. Massive farmer protests are one example, increasingly volatile political environment is another. There are also lots of articles discussing lack of investment in the social safety net in India. All of this does not paint a picture of a country where there is any meaningful poverty reduction happening.

                I acknowledge that there is conflicting evidence in the article I linked though.

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