Question

Poverty estimation in India
The percentage of the population living below the poverty line in India decreased to 22% in 2011-12 from 37% in
2004-05, according to data released by the Planning Commission in July 2013. This blog presents data on recent
poverty estimates and goes on to provide a brief history of poverty estimation in the country. National and state-
wise poverty estimate: The Planning Commission estimates levels of poverty in the country on the basis of
consumer expenditure surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics
and Programme Implementation.
National poverty estimates (% below poverty line) (1993 - 2012)
Year Rural Urban Total
1993 - 94 50.1 31.8 45.3
2004 - 05 41.8 25.7 37.2
2009 - 10 33.8 20.9 29.8
2011 - 12 25.7 13.7 21.9
Source: Press Note on Poverty Estimates, 2011-12
The current methodology for poverty estimation is based on the recommendations of an Expert Group to Review
the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty (Tendulkar Committee) established in 2005. The Committee calculated
poverty levels for the year 2004- 05. Poverty levels for subsequent years were calculated on the basis of the same
methodology, after adjusting for the difference in prices due to inflation. The table shows national poverty levels
for the last twenty years, using the methodology

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suggested by the Tendulkar Committee. According to these estimates, poverty declined at an average rate of 0.74
percentage points per year between 1993-94 and 2004-05, and at 2.18 percentage points per year between 2004-
05 and 2011-12.
Pre-independence poverty estimates: One of the earliest estimations of poverty was done by Dadabhai Naoroji
in his book, ‘Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India’. He formulated a poverty line ranging from ₹ 16 to ₹ 35 per
capita per year, based on 1867-68 prices. The poverty line proposed by him was based on the cost of a subsistence
diet consisting of ‘rice or flour, dhal, mutton, vegetables, ghee, vegetable oil and salt’. Next, in 1938, the National
Planning Committee (NPC) estimated a poverty line ranging from ₹ 15 to ₹ 20 per capita per month. Like the
earlier method, the NPC also formulated its poverty line based on ‘a minimum standard of living perspective in
which nutritional requirements are implicit’. In 1944, the authors of the ‘Bombay Plan’ (Thakurdas et al 1944)
suggested a poverty line of ₹ 75 per capita per year. Post-independence poverty estimates: In 1962, the Planning
Commission constituted a working group to estimate poverty nationally, and it formulated separate poverty lines
for rural and urban areas – of ₹ 20 and ₹ 25 per capita per year respectively. VM Dandekar and N Rath made the
first systematic assessment of poverty in India in 1971, based on the National Sample Survey (NSS) data from
1960-61. They argued that the poverty line must be derived from the expenditure that was adequate to provide
2250 calories per day in both rural and urban areas. This generated debate on minimum calorie consumption
norms while estimating poverty and variations in these norms based on age and sex.
1. The Planning Commission estimates levels of poverty in the country on the basis of:
a. surveys conducted by the NSSO
b. consumer expenditure survey conducted by NSSO
c. expenditure surveys conducted by NSSO
d. after adjusting for the difference in prices due to inflation
2. According to the passage, the percentage of the population living below the poverty line in India has decreased
up to from 2004-05 to 2011 -12:
a. 25%
b. 12%
c. 15%
d. 13%
3. Like the earlier method, the NPC also formulated its poverty line... The earlier method here means:
a. Method formulated by Dadabhai Naoroji
b. The method mentioned in the book Bombay Plan
c. Method of conducting a survey of consumer's expenditure
d. Method formulated by Tendulkar Committee

Answer 1

Answer:

%

d. 13%

3. Like the earlier method, the NPC also formulated its poverty line... The earlier method here means:

a. Method formulated by Dadabhai Naoroji

b. The method mentioned in the book Bombay Plan

c. Method of conducting a survey of consumer's expenditure

d.