ABSTRACT
The main objective of targeted government intervention is to reduce the deprivation suffered by the poor, who may suffer from poor health, chronic unemployment, or low levels of education, and many other kinds of deprivations. Projects or programsmay be designed so that the poor get greater access to various government services, but the main binding constraint in designing such targeted programs is identifying the genuine poor. If we have information on incomes or expenditures of individual families, then we can easily assess their poverty by comparing their income or expenditure against a predetermined poverty line. Such detailed information and administrative ability to use it are not present in most developing countries (Haddad and Kanbur 1991). But despite the absence of such information, targeted program methods have been implemented to reach the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
