Question : RATE OF POVERTY REDUCTION

(a) whether the Government has made any assessment to ascertain the number of people living below poverty line in urban areas;

(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the number of poor people living in mega cities;

(c) whether the rate of poverty reduction in the country has been slower than other regions of the world during the last three years;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and the reasons therefor; and

(e) the steps taken/being taken to speed up the rate of poverty alleviation in the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING & URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION [SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO]

(a)&(b): As per the poverty estimates released by the Planning Commission, the number of people living below the poverty line in urban areas in 2011-12 is 5.28 crore. The number of people living below the poverty line in mega cities is, however, not estimated separately.

(c)&(d): The national level poverty ratio based on Tendulkar Committee methodology for 1993-94, 2004-05 and 2011-12 estimated from Large Sample Survey of Household Consumer Expenditure data of 50th, 61st and 68th round respectively are given below:

	Urban Poverty	Number of Urban	Ratio (%)	Poor (million) 1993-94	31.8	74.5 2004-05	25.7	80.8 2011-12	13.7	52.8 Annual Average	0.55 Decline: 1993- 94 to 2004-05 
(percentage points per annum) Annual	1.69 Average Decline: 2004-05 to 2011-12 
(percentage points per annum)