As India aims for the double digit growth, a majority of Indians feel that poverty is here to stay for another two to three decades, according to a study to be released tomorrow.

“Sixty three percent of urban Indians believe that poverty, slums and urban squalor are going to be here even after 20-25 years from now,” the study, conducted by Oxfam India, Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) and World Vision, will say, Governance Now has learnt.

The study will also say that two–thirds of the respondents feel that poverty has brought down the image of India, which is home to the world’s largest number of poor people living in a single country.

India's continued impoverishment is accompanied by government's confusion over how much poverty exists in the country. While the planning commission puts India’s poor at 27.5 percent of the total population, the Tendulkar committee says its 37 percent, and Arjun Sengupta committee estimates the number to be a whopping 77 percent. 

"One-third of those surveyed say that that poverty is underestimated in India and government should spend much more on alleviating poverty," the study  on ‘what urban India thinks and feels about poverty’ will say.

India has performed poorly on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and many experts feel that the country will not be able to meet the targets, particularly eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.

One-third of the Indian think they have a role to play in alleviating poverty, but are unable to do anything significant, the study, based on responses from about 5000 people in 38 cities, will say.