Create more jobs in non-farm sector to curb poverty: Prez

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said more jobs need to be created in non-farm sector as employment creation is the most potent tool for bringing down poverty.

Addressing a summit on livelihood security, he also asked the industry to create a mechanism for income opportunities and capacity building through corporate social responsibility (CSR).

While emphasising on the need for providing livelihood security to the poor and realising the dreams of young India, he said that achieving these two tasks pose a formidable challenge considering India has only 2.4 per cent of world's geographical area and 17 per cent of the global population.

‘In India, the high incidence of poverty of over 60 per cent that prevailed six decades ago have come down to over 30 per cent now. ...Even then a sizeable number of about 270 million remained below the poverty line as on 2011-12. Our goal now is 'poverty elimination' and not merely 'poverty alleviation',’ President Pranab Mukherjee said at an Assocham event.