The causes of poverty lie in the institutional and social factors that mark the life of the poor. The poor are deprived of quality education and unable to acquire skills which fetch better incomes. Also access to health care is denied to the poor. The main victims of caste, religious and other discriminatory practices are poor. These can be caused as a result of (i) social, economic and political inequality (ii) social exclusion (iii) unemployment (iv) indebtedness (v) unequal distribution of wealth. Aggregate poverty is just the sum of individual poverty. Poverty is also explained by general, economy-wide problems, such as low capital formation,  lack of infrastructure, lack of demand, pressure of population (v) lack of social/ welfare nets.

Given below are some statements. Read them carefully and choose the correct statement (s) from the given options.

Statement 1: The government agrees that despite the higher rate of growth, increase in agricultural production, providing employment in rural areas and economic reform packages introduced in the 1990s, the poverty levels in India has not been decreased.

Statement 2: Due to various limitations in the official estimation of poverty, scholars have attempted to find alternative methods. One such method is "Poverty Gap" developed by  Amartya Sen.    

None of the given statement is correct.

The correct answer is Option 4: None of the given statement is correct.

Statement 1: The government agrees that despite the higher rate of growth, increase in agricultural production, providing employment in rural areas and economic reform packages introduced in the 1990s, the poverty levels in India has not been decreased. This is false. Though the government claims that higher rate of growth, increase in agricultural production, providing employment in rural areas and economic reform packages introduced in the 1990s have resulted in a decline in poverty levels, economists raise doubts about the government’s claim. They point out that the way the data are collected, items that are included in the consumption basket, methodology followed to estimate the poverty line and the number of poor are manipulated to arrive at the reduced figures of the number of poor in India.

Statement 2: Due to various limitations in the official estimation of poverty, scholars have attempted to find alternative methods. One such method is "Poverty Gap" developed by  Amartya Sen. This is false. Amartya Sen developed "Sen Index" and not "Poverty Gap".