India, May 1 -- Arguably, Gawdekasgaon was a "rich" pocket within these poverty squares. It has now slipped back into poverty-ironically pushed by the railway lines-from which it would not be able to recover easily. It has lost its natural capital and access to it that once set the village apart and offered the residents a ladder to climb out of poverty.

This is the chemistry of chronic poverty. In the poorest districts of India, people fall below the poverty line every day, slipping deeper with the slightest nudge. So much so that they are now invisible in the country's development radar, quite literally.

It is more than 15 years since India last counted poverty, and there is little sign of any intent to do so again. In 2011-12 (using ...