When policy makers begin hearing voices

One year ago, the Indian population stood at 1.027 billion, with 320 million Indian people (especially in rural areas) living below the Government of India’s official poverty line. Five hundred million people in India live on less than US$1/day, representing one third of the world’s poor people. India’s successes in poverty alleviation will seriously affect international success with international development targets (such as halving absolute poverty by 2015). The Eastern Plateau region of India is characterised by poverty and inequality, land alienation and seasonal migration. The scheduled castes and tribes targeted by the project are amongst the poorest communities in India. Poor women and men, recipients of the envisaged improved aquaculture service provision, typically belong to scheduled tribes or castes, and many lack the means to produce sufficient food throughout the year. Their livelihoods may be characterised as in Box 1. Geographic Scope of the Project and Key Stakeholders