The Prime Minister in-waiting Rahul Gandhi has stated that actually “poverty is not a money-oriented thing but just a psychological feeling only.” He said as long as the down trodden do not come forward voicing their problems, they can’t expect any change in their lives. He appreciated the efforts paid put by the self-help groups.

Naturally, his remarks on poverty irk BJP and other opposition parties. They flayed him for being ignorant about the poverty despite his nine years of extensive tour across the rural areas of the country.

If, poverty is just a psychological feeling only, then the planning commission vice president Montek Ahuluwalia, who recently discovered there is significant drop in BPL (below poverty line) percent, should make corrections to his statistical charts, according to the latest yardstick given by Rahul Gandhi to measure the poverty in the country.