Union labour minister, Sahib Singh Verma, has done his bit to reduce poverty in India. He wants the International Labour Organisation to float an international skill development fund so that the poverty ratio in India drops from the present 26 to 19 per cent in 2007. First, the facts: 26 per cent is not a 2003 figure, but is from the 1999-2000 round of the National Sample Survey (NSS). Subject to some complaints about non-comparability of NSS data across two rounds, the all-India poverty ratio dropped from 36 per cent in 1993-94 to 26 per cent in 1999-2000. (Editorial)