How To Become Rich In A Day

Now for another out of proportion stats:

THE ECONOMIST's Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity: in the long run, exchange rates should adjust to equal the price of a basket of goods and services in different countries. This particular basket holds a McDonald's Big Mac, whose price around the world was compared with its American average of $4.20.

McDonald’s doesn’t even sell Big Mac in India because it’s made of beef which is not acceptable to Hindus. So, The Economist has instead looked at the price of the Maharaja-Mac burger (its equal substitute), made of chicken which sells at 84 rupees. Which makes it quite a simple observation in the global scenario that a man to have a dignified burger a day for which he labours (just for himself without taking into account a family he might have to feed or probably share this single burger with), which is a globally available product, priced taking into consideration the various criteria in economics, like many others across the globe, might require Rs. 84 in India to buy that burger.

Now lets check this out...

The Cause:
The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report says that 37% of people in India live below the poverty line(BPL).
The Arjun Sengupta Report (from National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector) states that 77% of Indians live on less than INR 20 a day (about $0.50 per day).
The N.C. Saxena Committee report states that 50% of Indians live below the poverty line.
A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 650 million people (53.7% of population) living in poverty in India, of which 340 million people (28.6% of the population) were living in severe poverty, and that a further 198 million people (16.4% of the population) were vulnerable to poverty.
421 million of the poor are concentrated in eight North Indian and East Indian states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations.

The Effect:
The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition.
The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die before reaching the age of 5 every year – four every minute – mostly from preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, malaria, measles and pneumonia. Every day, 1,000 Indian children die because of diarrhoea alone.
The 2011 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report ranked India 15th, amongst leading countries with hunger situation.

Made in India for you...
Planning Commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia submitted new price data that pegged the urban poverty line as consumption of Rs. 32/day per person in urban areas and Rs. 26/day in rural areas, a revision that would immediately lower India’s own measure of its poor from 37% to 32% of its population. Behold: 60 million people, suddenly not poor.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/rs-26-cr-for-mayawatis-security-rs-20-cr-for-her-bungalows-maintenance-125431&cp

India did it again!!! Now I can have that fcking burger and smile "I'm luvin it!"

By the by, things you can do with Rs. 26:
buy 1 lettuce
buy 6 eggs
pay for (almost)... a 2-way ticket by local transport
a 1 1/2 km ride by taxi
can buy a ticket to the movies if everything is sacrificed and money saved for a week
can buy a Levis 501 if everything is sacrificed and money saved for 78.84 days
buy 370ml of petrol
buy 810ml of milk
buy 2 litres water bottle
have less than half a cup of your regular cappuccino
buy around 650ml of cola
and ofcourse have 30.95% of that freakin burger...

In the mean time, In a supplementary budget tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, a whopping 26 crore rupees has been allocated for providing security to Chief Minister Mayawati. The money, sources say, will be used to buy Ambassador cars and ten jammer vehicles. Another 20 crore rupees have been earmarked for the upkeep of two state government bungalows allotted to the Chief Minister in Lucknow.

Indian government approves 200% MPs’ salary hike , Still some MP's are unhappy.
TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year: Rs.60,95,000
For 534 MPs, the expense for 1 year: Rs. 325,47,30,000
3254730000 X 5 years = Rs. 1627,36, 50000 ( One Thousand six hundred crores plus..)
Now that's a lot of burgers!

Source:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-chart-3
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/08/02/india-ranks-low-in-big-mac-index/
"It's official: 37 pc live below poverty line". Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
"Report on Condition of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the unorganized sector.".
"Country Briefing: India, Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) At a Glance". Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
"8 Indian states have more poor than 26 poorest African nations". Times of India. July 12, 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/10/04/whose-line-is-it-anyway-india-rethinks-its-poverty-schemes/#ixzz1nOwM3yzQ
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/entry/middle-class-hypocrisy-on-the-poverty-line
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/rs-26-cr-for-mayawatis-security-rs-20-cr-for-her-bungalows-maintenance-125431
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=India&displayCurrency=INR
http://discuss.itacumens.com/index.php?topic=94131.0

p.c: http://www.jmooneyham.com/why-we-cant-afford-for-the-rich-to-pay-higher-taxes.html