Synopsis This book brings out the constraints in the anti-poverty policies in India that result from the elite-driven feature of its democracy. Using a three- phase conceptual framework, the author argues that India has still not moved beyond modest achievements in alleviating hardcore poverty. In the first Part the book discusses how Human Development Indices remain very low and empowerment of the poor has not been institutionalized even at the lowest level of village Panchayats. In the second Part the author discusses the important, but relatively neglected, theme of poverty generating processes with special focus on the marginalisation process in agriculture and policy weaknesses in creating livelihoods for the poor. In the last Part the author pleads for policy-making that is based on a ‘systemic view’ of poverty rather than the prevailing ‘statistical view’ for dealing with the merging phase in poverty reduction.