The module aims at providing a review of the important issues in the literature that has evolved around poverty and inequality in general and with specific reference to India. Broadly it addresses issues in description of poverty and inequality, various analytical approaches to understand their causes and how this understanding informs policy. The course is used for sensitization on measurement issues primarily basing on the fact that any measurement lends itself to valuation, interpretation and comparison. Each of these warrants robustness in any measurement. While valuation demands a bound condition in a measure, interpretation requires a greater conformity with its conceptual base and comparison in ultimate terms should be sensitive on account of levels and differentials. This is well achieved through appreciation of axiomatic properties of measures of poverty and inequality. However, a greater dividend is possible with application of similar notions in other domains of measurement as well.