There is a close connection between illiteracy and poverty at all levels--global, national, and subnational; the countries with the lowest levels of literacy are also the poorest economically. Poverty breeds illiteracy by forcing children to drop out of school to work, and these illiterate people are forced to stay on the lowest levels of the work force and thus remain in poverty. Thus illiteracy in turn reinforces poverty, and poverty is cyclical in families. Women and girls are especially vulnerable to the cycle. In order to break the cycle of illiteracy, a multipronged program against poverty must be carried out. In India and in some other developing countries, every 5-year program has a broad antipoverty component that includes a minimum needs program, an intensified and effective employment program, specific development programs, an assets redistribution program, an increase in the flow of real income, work toward a national income policy, and legislation promoting tenancy reform and surplus land distribution, minimum wages, and equal status for women. Literacy education has a specific role--to train illiterate adults in reading, writing, and arithmetic, to equip them with some income-generating skills, and to raise awareness of societal needs. (KC)