Question

Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India?
Do you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?
Describe poverty trends in India since 1973?​

Answer 1

Answer:

As per the data, there has been a substantial decline in poverty ratios in India from 45 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2 per cent in 2004-05. There was a further decline to 22 per cent in 2011-12. Although the number of poor people declined from 1973 to 1993, there was a significant reduction in the number of the poor (about 407 million) in 2004-05 and a further 270 million in 2011-12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 per cent. It may also be noted that poverty ratios always remained higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas. If the present trend continues, the people below the poverty line may come down to less than 20 per cent in the next few years.