Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 7, No 1, 2019, pp 324-331 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2019.7137 324 |www.hssr.in © Mundra A REVIEW OF INDIAN GOVERNMENT INCLUSIVE INITIATIVES: POVERTY ON THE DECLINE Dr. Sheetal Mundra Assistant Professor, Institute of Management, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur sheetalmundra5@gmail.com Article History: Received on 02nd February Revised on 30th April, Published on 20th July 2019 Abstract Purpose of the study: The ineffectiveness of the Indian development planning model reflected in India’s largest share in the count of poor people for the year 2016. This paper depicts the current poverty situation and the importance of poverty reduction in India. It also explores the socioeconomic determinants affecting poverty across different states of India and the possible reasons of the recent decline in the poverty ratio in India during the Modi reform era (2015-2018). Methodology: The study is based on secondary data. The data of 28 Indian states for the year 2009-10 and 2011-12 have been considered on key inclusive socioeconomic indicators, namely, Human Development Index (HDI), Work Participation Rate, Gini-coefficient, Gross State Domestic Product, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act expenditure, and Poverty Head Count Ratio. The variation in the poverty headcount ratio, having the combined effect of these indicators, has been measured through the multiple regression model and presented with the help of SPSS. Main Findings: The paper concludes that HDI is the most significant determinant in both years (2009-10 and 2011-12) across different states of India. It underlines the fact that major inclusive initiatives during the Modi reform era have been coincidentally directed towards the improvement of health and education and the generation of income, resulting in poverty reduction. Thus, right initiatives require the right direction for their effectiveness. Applications of this study: This study will help in highlighting the key inclusive initiatives of performance and in supporting these initiatives to reduce poverty in India. India can be considered as a model for many developing countries to follow such inclusive initiatives, identify the significant determinant of poverty, and get rid of it. Novelty/Originality of this study: This paper sheds light on key determinants of poverty in the Indian context. The paper examines the government inclusive initiatives in the context of identifying the determinants that help in supporting the right initiatives towards the right direction, resulting in the reduction of poverty in India. Keywords: Poverty, Poverty Headcount Ratio, Human Development Index, Inclusive Initiative INTRODUCTION India adopted the five year plan model as a tool for planned economic development since 1951 and continued until 2017. As a developing country, poverty eradication was one of the important objectives of this planned development model. The adoption of poverty alleviation strategies in the five year development model have resulted in continuous reduction in the ratio of poverty across India. Various employment and income generation schemes were implemented and different methodologies to estimate poor population were adopted. The economic philosophy behind this initiative was to provide preferential treatment to uplift poor people to enable them to participate and contribute in economic development (Raj Krishna, 1984). Poverty is narrowly defined as physical deprivation from the essentials of wellbeing, particularly food, but also housing, clothing, and other assets (Narayan et al., 2000). It is also referred as the state of deprivation with respect to social inferiority, vulnerability, seclusion, physical weakness, subjection, and humiliation (Ogwumike and Odusola, 2001). Poverty examines the relative position of an individual on some absolute standards and distribution of individuals in terms of their departure from these standards in the society (Shrinivasan, 2013). It is a multidimensional phenomena (Narayan et al., 2000) marked as denial of capability from economic opportunities, public liberty, communal amenities, transparent transactions, and positive safety (Sen, 1999). The poverty rate and head count ratio are the most common standards of measuring poverty. In 1979, a task force defined poverty line based on food expenditure worth 2,400 calories in rural area and 2100 calories in urban areas. In 2011, the Suresh Tendulkar Committee quantified the poverty line based on an individual expenditure worth Rs. 27.2 and Rs. 33.3 in a day on basic substances of living in rural and urban areas, respectively. This had been criticized for setting the low poverty line (Choudhury, 2015). The Rangarajan committee defined a new poverty line as one’s spending on less than