7 Poverty and Structural Inequality in India : Understanding from Policy Perspective Hafida Begum* Poverty and structural disparity go hand in hand in India. The country like India with a huge economy and an impressive growth rate has not been able to scuttle poverty at an equally matching speed. No doubt there have been policies and programmes to counter poverty, there has been less visible effect. This paper argues that although the poverty is at a decline in India, the pace of the decline is not impressive compared to other countries. Hence, this paper suggests that there have to be efforts on a war scale to eliminate poverty and transform the humongous population of poor from a liability to a worthful and a contributing lot. [Keywords : Poverty, Structural disparity, Policy perspective, Poverty alleviation programmes] I. Introduction Poverty is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. Every state, developed and developing alike, is grappling with the issues of poverty with a difference of degrees. In a state like India that has been a subject of colonialism and with a history of profound drain of wealth the issue is not a surprising one. The reduction of poverty has been a major goal of the governments since independence. The * Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi - 110025 (India) E-mail: <hafida.begum@gmail.com> CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL SCIENCES, Vol. 27, No. 3 (July-September), 2018