Most political parties in India have secured money from the rich and votes from the poor, on the solemn promise of protecting each group against the other. The other day, president A P J Abdul Kalam mentioned how there were as many as 260 million people in India, who lived below the poverty line and needed to be lifted above it. We know what problems the Planning Commission faced some five-year plans back, on whether to re-assess the weightages given to different ingredients usually considered while calculating povery in India. (Editorial)