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The committee, headed by Tendulkar, former chairman of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, was asked to review the methodology to measure poverty.
The committee has defined the poor based on a normative living standard — it has moved away from calorie intake as the criterion and considered per capita consumption expenditure on commodities and services.
The number of poor in India in 2004-05 based on an estimate by the Planning Commission released in March 2007 is 30.17 crore or 27.5 per cent of the population.
It will, however, be wrong to compare the Tendulkar committee’s estimate with the Plan panel’s 2007 numbers since the criteria for defining the poverty line itself have changed.
When contacted, Ahluwalia told The Indian Express, “The report says there is nothing wrong with the Plan panel’s 2004-05 estimate of urban poor. Yes, it has said that the rural poverty line is understated.”
He said the government will study the methodology and it was early to say if the report will be accepted. Further, it also needs to be seen if the new poverty line should be applied to 2004-05 or 2009-10, Ahluwalia said.
The Tendulkar committee has set the threshold per capita consumption expenditure for defining the poor in rural India at Rs 446 per month and for the poor in urban India at Rs 580 per month, after making adjustments for price differences.
The Plan panel’s earlier estimate had pegged rural poverty at 28.3 per cent and poverty ratio in urban areas at 25.7 per cent. The Tendulkar committee says the poverty ratio in rural India, based on the new line, is significantly higher at 41 per cent or 32 crore in absolute terms. In urban areas, it is 27.5 per cent or 8.71 crore.
Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen put the two estimates in perspective. “Basically, what the Tendulkar committee means to say is calorie intake that is taken as a criterion since 1970s is no longer relevant today because people in rural areas consume far less calories for the same income today compared with what they did in 1970.”
The Tendulkar committee has hence looked at the bundle of goods and services being consumed by people in urban areas and compared it with the consumption pattern of people in rural India. “This has led them to believe that the rural poverty line should go up,” Sen said.
The Plan panel’s estimate for 2004-05 was based on the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey finding that said an income of Rs 560 per month was enough to purchase 2,100 calories of nutrition in urban areas and an income of Rs 368 per month was enough to purchase 2,400 calories of nutrition in rural areas.
The poverty ratio of 27.5 per cent in 2004-05 suggested that it had come down significantly from 36 per cent in 1993-94.
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It is disgusting to see that our IAS officers would use Rs 400 and Rs 500 as baseline for poverty line. Per this, a mere Rs 500 is sufficent to by food for a person for a month. It does not take too long to find out that a coffe costs more than Rs 50 and a good meal costs more than Rs 100. Leave alone the educational and medical expenses. May I suggest that we pay these officers no more than Rs 2000 a month as it will be four times the minimum required. I urge the people to wakeup and write to these officers to do their job right. According to my own experiences and my friends narrations, one needs Rs 10,000 in rural areas and 50,000 in cities. Now figure out the povert rate in India. Perhaps, if we have the real numbers, may be we will make real decisions. Shame on IAS officers for not being serious about their country.
a vast number of our people r starving but the leaders are making merry .fault is ours because we have elected them to rob us and now we are posing as victims. why dont our people kick these inefficient leaders out of the govt.? do we need to be completely eradicated as a nation by absolute starvation when only 1 family will be left which will rule and be the ruled society?
Leaders are only a representation of the society. If you 'kick out' the incumbent one, a worse one will take his place. The values and attitudes of the society should change. You and I should take the challenge. When one starts defining one's well-being by the wellbeing of my neighbour... probabaly ...
India,Japan,South Korea all started out in the 50's in the same way.They were poor but by 2009 both japan and south korea are developed countries,but that thanks to the of the incompetency of the congress party india still has 37 percent poor.Great going cong.People should shoot them for their incompetency.
They became developed not because of parties that ruled them,but because of their hard working culture and further they do not have peoples like you & me who always blame others!!
that's right..playing a blame game is always easy, what we need is to better ourselves first than think about correcting others.
From the article "The poverty ratio of 27.5 per cent in 2004-05 suggested that it had come down significantly from 36 per cent in 1993-94." This is not a valid comparison since the commission has changed the norms on which basis they compute poverty.IN absolute terms 1/3rd of urban indians live in poverty and almost half(41%) of rural india live in poverty.
Irrational crass capitalism can only increase common man's misery by advancing poverty. It is the Congress led government policies that aim to destroy India from within culturally and economically. India will become bankrupt and turn into a banana republic. Save Aam Admi, Save India.
Congress government thrives on this poverty and carrots of SC ST OBC Communal Muslims. The criteria of consumption may not tell everything about all people, but it is very important to have poverty to have vulnerable, destitute and vote bank masses available for congress party. Sixty years of hard work and yet 40% people are poor!! It must be very hard work. We remember the night out drama of Rahul Gandhi with Jack Straw to demonstrate the need of poor, uneducated masses to stamp the palm on ballot!! Jai ho...
Parts of India where the wealth is hoarded, the % is correct. The Commission, the leaders, the affluent, moves in AC ultramodern cars, lives in highly decorated AC rooms under electric-blanket, gourmet meals, has never been tasted poverty but has observed the yokels move as insects in the villages and streets of India while spending in the name of God and propagating their sympathy through the Medias, lavishly, have never eager to throw alms even the Leaders promised at the time of Elections at the Huts where they begged, favored, intimidated, threatened for valued poverty-coated-votes which are the life saving nectar of these Commissions and Leaders & Govts. Fog-Van, Where are you, on the land or in the atmosphere, Hey Hit-lier!
Yes, this is the achievement of the so called pseudo secular party of Indira Congress not the Congress which fought for India's freedom. At least now they got the majority in the parliament, do something to eradicate poverty in India by ensuring all the programmes aimed to help the poor should reach the needy but not the intermediaries like MPs, MLAs and their subordinates and it is applicable to all the bureaucrats. Make sure that our country is free from corruption and try to control the population which is exploding in an alarming way. Instead of concentrating on the dead issue of babri masjid let the govt concentrate on the issues of price rise of all essential commodities else which will become a day dream for the poors.
Is any authority or political party or so called Indian leader bothered? The scoundrels are busy only filling their pockets and clinging to power. The starving people are not in the reckoning.
KCR is a total idiot. Instead of aspiring for position by causing separate nation and separate statehood, he needs to concentrate on eradicating poverty and corruption. He is so perfidious.. Nation needs to distribute such politicians wealth among poor and needy. I do not know India that well, since I left India at early age. But I noticed lot of worst. kishen c.rao/venky-villa, winterville, nc