When on the 6th of January 1941, amidst the roar of the guns of
the second world war, President Roosevelt announced that "in
the future days.., we look forward to a world founded upon four
essential freedoms", including "freedom from want", he was
voicing what was soon to become one of the major themes of the
post-war era. While the elimination of poverty all over the world
had become a much-discussed ir/ternational issue, it was in the
richer countries that an immediate eradication seemed possible.
That battle was joined soon enough after the war in those affluent
countries and the ending of poverty had been a major issue in
their policy discussions
