Growth or Aid?

Two opinion pieces in The Hindu caught my attention.

World poverty reduced by growth in India and China Numbers of the extremely poor fell from 1.489 billion in 1981 to 986 million in 2004.

A short piece by Larry Elliot, republished in The Hindu from UK's Guardian.

And just below that, another opinion -

IMF's plutocracy Loan conditions continue to condemn developing countries to a vicious cycle of misery.

A much longer opinion by George Monbiot, again republished in The Hindu from UK's Guardian.

At least by now, based on the experience of aid giving in the past 50 years and growth stories in the past two decades, it should be clear where the focus should be to eliminate poverty in the world.

Talk about lopsided priorities of analysts and intellectuals.