Synopsis This book, which is the result of extensive fieldwork, makes an attempt to identify and understand the survival strategies of the rural and the urban poor and, in the light of the findings, presents policy measures for poverty alleviation. The book is unique in that its approach to studying the survival strategies makes a departure from the conventional economists' approach and the approach followed by the sociologists and anthropologists. Combining these two approaches and treating the poor households as miniature political economies, an attempt is made to capture the survival strategies of the poor both in the market and the non-market contexts. The behaviours of the households in either case has been understood in the framework of sociology but explained in terms of the framework provided by the micro-economic theory. The results of this research throws new light on the process of poverty in the Indian context, suggesting an alternative base for understanding poverty and its consequences, and finally provides inputs for policy-making. Therefore, the book should be of interest not only to policy-makers but also to teachers and students of economics and sociology, and to researchers.