(a) Whether the average family expense of the Indian farmers is just above the
amount fixed by the Government for poverty line;
(b) If so, whether the Government has been in the process of hiding the megacity of
poor people of India by taking excuse of BPL for a quite long time;
(c) If so, the reasons therefor; and
(d) The corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard ?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY
OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SURYAKANTA PATIL)
(a) to (d): The Planning Commission had defined poverty in terms of the per capita
monthly expenditure corresponding to per capita daily calorie requirement of 2400 in
rural areas and 2100 in urban area. The incidence of poverty at national and State level
is estimated by the Planning Commission from the large sample survey on household
consumer expenditure conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) at
an interval of approximately five years according to the Expert Group Methodology
(Lakdawala Committee on Estimation of Proportion and Number of Poor). The rural
poverty line, which was estimated at national level during 1999-2000 is Rs.327.56.
However, the Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers during 2003 was taken up by
NSSO, in the rural areas, as part of the NSS 59th Round, on the request of the Union
Ministry of Agriculture. According to the results of that Survey, the average monthly per
capita expenditure of farmers at National level is Rs.502.83 during 2003. If this average
monthly per capita expenditure of Rs.502.83 is deflated at 1999-2000 prices it works out
to be Rs.487.97 which is about 49% higher than the poverty line.