Villagers identify the ultra-poor (print version is also available)
HOW do you identify the ultra-poor in a village? The most efficient way is to ask the community to come up with indicators according to their values, found PRADAN, which has been working in Adivasi hamlets in Jharkhand for many years.
Finding out who the ultra-poor are can be challenging because they are generally bracketed with a broad category of people living in extreme poverty, say economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.
PRADAN decided to design an identification process and then intervene to help the ultra-poor. After working out the framework of their research, they conducted a study in 10 villages of four panchayats in the Torpa block of Khunti district in Jharkhand.