The Government’s work should be to listen to the poor, to work for the poor, and live for (the poor)”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first speech in the 16th Lok Sabha. This was just a day after President Pranab Mukherjee said in his address at the joint session of Parliament that “my Government will not be satisfied with mere ‘poverty alleviation’ and commits itself to the goal of ‘poverty elimination’ .The mandate for Modi is being seen, above all, as a mandate for development; development which is inclusive and which leads to empowerment of the poor and downtrodden. So, how has India done on poverty alleviation in the last few years? Are there regional differences in the pattern of poverty alleviation? Is rapid economic growth a prerequisite for poverty alleviation? Which States in India have been most successful at bringing people out of poverty? An analysis by Swaniti Initative, a development consulting firm which works with legislators, found that between 2004-05 and 2011-12, most states did well at poverty alleviation. 19 out of the 28 States managed a reduction in poverty by 10 percentage points or more. In other words, 19 states managed to pull out more than 10% of their total population out of poverty. 12 of them achieved a reduction greater than 15 percentage points.

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