Weren't 38% always in extreme poverty? I think the percentage of urban people who who never go hungry, have electricity, a motor scooter and a mobile phone is still rising.



In rural areas around the world it does seem logical that a decrease in the ratio of useful land to people would make the rural poor still yet poorer. In India I think agriculural water is more scarce than potential agricultural land.



" Overall, almost two-thirds of Indian farmers rely solely on rainfall to derive a livelihood from the land. "



The big Deccan Plateau is so dry. In the area I am familiar with people seem to be managing to live from a once a year Jowar Sorghum harvest and goat herding. The land looks like it could produce a lot more if there was water for irrigation. The rivers already are practically dry from use by irrigation. It must be tempting tempting to want to capture every last drop of water flowing from the Himalayas and transport what North India does not use to the Deccan but Bengalis also needs for that water to continue to flow to the Ganges Delta to preserve their environment and their irrigation. There does not seem to be enough water to go around but water projects probably still are the best way to reduce poverty in India.

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