ABSTRACT
India is home to the largest number of people in extreme poverty in the world and is also the world’s largest democracy with a thriving press expected to act as a watchdog. It is, therefore, not surprising that there is vast coverage of poverty and related issues in the media (print, broadcast and online), though some analysts have argued that issues relating to those in poverty get much less coverage in proportion to their numbers. Globally, the understanding of poverty has been evolving over the past 70 years, broadening from being one focused exclusively on a certain minimal income/consumption to one that includes “multiple deprivations.” The issues of “powerlessness, agency and inclusion” also have found their way into the emerging discourses of poverty constructed by academic research, international development agencies and government documents. This essay focuses on the role played by Indian news media in shaping commonly held notions about poverty in sync with the changing discourses through an analysis of editorials published in the country’s most popular English-language newspaper. It also includes a brief commentary on India’s experience of economic planning and development since its independence from colonial rule in 1947.
