Jaydev JanaNew Delhi, Dec. 18 -- Poverty is as misunderstood as any subject can be. At one level, it could mean no food, no clothes, bad health, and recognized inadequacy of shelters, amenities, and services. But at another level, it becomes so elusive and slippery that it slides through the slick fingers of all the manipulators of figures and wielders of statistics. In the words of Nelson Mandela, "Abject poverty is demeaning, it is an insult on the dignity of those who suffer it. In the end it demeans us all."Eradication of poverty is an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of mankind. The World Development Report 2000/2001 mentioned that the voices of poor people bear eloquent testimony to the meaning of poverty. The report...