25-30 yrs needed for lifting poor above international poverty line: Environment Minister

NEW DELHI: It will take 25-30 years for India to lift its poor people above the international poverty line which has been pegged at USD 1.25 (about Rs 80) per person per day, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in the Lok Sabha today.

For lifting people above the poverty line of USD 5 per person per day, it would take about 200 years, he said while replying to a debate on Sustainable Development Goals which prescribes poverty eradication as one of the objectives.

The UN has ushered in the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals with an aim of ending poverty, hunger and assure gender equally while building a life of dignity for all over the next 15 years. SDG includes 17 goals and 169 targets.

Dave said poverty eradication is the most important goal and if it is achieved, other things would automatically fall in place.

"Politicians and bureaucrats have to see that if we want to eradicate poverty what needs to be done...it will not happen till we deal with the illicit micro financing which leads to outflow of capital," he said.

With regard to the SDGs set by the UN to be achieved by 2030, the minister said more clarity is needed on the methodology for achieving these.

"India is committed to achieve the SDG goals....But we need more clarity on how to achieve them by 2030," he said.

Quoting Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Dave said SDG goals are good but it would be improper to achieve right goals through wrong means.