How Poor Are We

THERE was a kind of 'jugalbundi' programme in economics at Pune the other day. It happened like this. When V M Dandekar delivered his Kale Memorial Lecture recently, one of the main critics to whom he was replying, P V Sukhatme, was present. It was suggested by a number of interested persons at the conclusion of that Lecture that Sukhatme should give his reply in a similar academic forum. This was agreed to and a discussion was organised at the Indian Institute of Education. Attended by a large number of students and researchers in the fields of economics, statistics, biometry and various other disciplines, it became an academic event. There was keen interest in listening to both themain participants. As A K Kamath who was in the Chair put it at the end, the debate remained inconclusive, and may perhaps remain so for quite some time. Dandekar's statement has already been published in these columns (July 25, 1981). Sukhatme's reply (August 8, 1981) essentially does not go much beyond what he had stated in 1978 ("Assessment of Adequacy of Diets at Different Income