(a) whether the various committees constituted by the Government have submitted different figures on population Below Poverty Line;
(b) if so, the facts thereof;
(c) whether the Government has information about the exact percentage of population Below Poverty Line at present;
(d) if so, the details thereof; State-wise; and
(e) the further steps taken by the Government to bring population above the poverty line?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)
(a) to (d): The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) set up
by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in 2004 brought out a report on
‘Conditions on Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector’. In this report,
it was reported that 77% of the population had a per capita daily consumption of up to Rs. 20
in 2004-05 and this section of population was termed as poor and vulnerable. The Committee did
not provide any justification for using the cut-off amount of Rs. 20 per day. However, the
Economic Survey 2008-09, brought out that based on the calculations on data on household
consumption expenditure for 2004-05 (NSS 61st round-2004-05), the population with less than Rs
20 per day per capita consumption expenditure was 60.5% only. In any case, the above
observation in the report of National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector
(NCEUS) is based on the criterion which is different from the poverty line adopted by the
Planning Commission.
An Expert Group headed by Dr. N.C. Saxena constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development to
recommend a suitable methodology for identification of BPL families in rural areas submitted
its report in August 2009. While recommending the new methodology for identification of BPL
households, it was also suggested to assume national level poverty ratio at 50 percent which
was not based on any specific justification.
The Planning Commission is the only nodal government agency that provides official estimates
of the number and proportion of people living below the poverty line at the national and
state levels, separately for rural and urban areas. These poverty estimates are based on a
large sample survey of household consumption expenditure carried out by the National Sample
Survey Organization (NSSO) after an interval of five years approximately.
The Planning Commission in December, 2005 appointed an Expert Group under the Chairmanship of
Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar to review alternate concepts of poverty and to recommend changes in
the existing procedures used for official estimates of poverty. The Tendulkar Committee
submitted its report in December, 2009. The Committee has recommended that the rural poverty
line should be recomputed to reflect money value in rural areas of the same basket of
consumption that is associated with the existing urban poverty line. The resulting estimate of
the all-India rural poverty head count ratio for 2004-05 was placed at 41.8 percent, urban
poverty head count ratio at 25.7 percent and at all-India level at 37.2 percent. The Mid Term
Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan has indicated that the revised poverty lines for
2004-05 as recommended by the Tendulkar Committee have been accepted by the Planning
Commission. A statement containing the latest official state-wise poverty estimates of
Planning Commission and the estimates based on the recommendations of Tendulkar Committee is
at Annexe-I.
(e): Alleviation of poverty in the country is one of the monitorable targets of the
Eleventh Five Year Plan and it aims at reduction in the Head-Count Ratio of Consumption Poverty
by 10 percentage points during the Plan period (2007-12). The Government has taken various
measures to reduce poverty in the country through direct interventions by implementing
programmes such as: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),
Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY),
Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Antyodaya Anna Yojana
(AAY), etc. In addition, launching of Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojana, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) are the initiatives to strengthen
the social security system.