The fundamental flaw in our fight against poverty

With just two words -- Garibi Hatao -- Indira Gandhi changed the fate of the 1971 elections.

In those heady days of socialism this slogan coined by the Congress party in the run-up to the parliamentary elections then captured the imagination of the electorate and, perhaps, the nation itself.

The then Opposition could neither counter this slogan with an effective plan nor at least by another imaginative slogan. Garibi Hatao, Indira Nahin, (remove poverty, not Indira Gandhi) was her short yet effective punch line. No wonder, Indira Gandhi swept that particular Lok Sabha election.

Since then several governments have been formed at the Centre. Several political formulations with diverse political ideologies have claimed to have been voted to power.