The planning commission, despite the hue and cry from all quarters, stuck to it guns on the recently released poverty figures. While there has been a revision of the poverty bar, it has to be considered that the methodology and the statistics it uses in the calculation of the figure is incorrect, to put it mildly.

The plan panel admitted that inequality rose after 2004-05, albeith "marginally". It also said that the statistical data needed reforms to reflect a more accurate figure.

The facts and the admission of the panel both undermine the accuracy of the poverty figures. So, would you go by its estimate or would you call it a conscious ignorance of the harshness of poverty in the country?