Poverty is now increasingly seen, both at the conceptual and empirical levels, as a multidimensional phenomenon. It is pronounced deprivation in well-being, having a range of dimensions. Income is only one of many dimensions. The non-income dimensions include limited access to education and health services, economic vulnerability to external shocks, and voicelessness and powerlessness. Participatory approaches to poverty assessment recently used by the World Bank capture the voices of the poor. …