(a) whether any work force has been constituted for the assessment of Poverty Line in the country during the last five years;
(b) if so, the details of the assessment made by the work force during the said period;
(c) if not, the reasons therefor;
(d) whether the Government has any data regarding the income gap among various income groups in the country; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a) to (c): A Task Force on Elimination of Poverty in India was constituted by NITI Aayog on 16th March, 2015 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Panagariya, former Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. The Terms of Reference for the Task Force inter alia included to “Develop a working definition of poverty”. The report of the Task Force primarily focuses on issues of measurement of poverty and strategies to combat poverty. Regarding estimation of poverty, the report of the Task Force states that a consensus in favour of either the Tendulkar or a higher poverty line did not emerge. Therefore, the Task Force has concluded that the matter be considered in greater depth by the country’s top experts on poverty before a final decision is made. With respect to strategies to combat poverty, the Task Force has made recommendations on faster poverty reduction through employment intensive sustained rapid growth and effective implementation of anti-poverty programs.
(d) & (e): Sir, the data on income/wealth is not maintained by the Government. However household consumption expenditure data collected by NSSO is used as a proxy to capture the economic disparity. Based on Mixed Reference Period of the Quinquennial Household Consumer Expenditure Surveys of the NSSO conducted in 2004-05 (61st round) and 2011-12 (68th round), the Gini coefficient (measuring the inequality between different expenditure classes of the population) in rural areas has remained almost the same in 2004-05 and 2011-12 at 0.27 and 0.28 respectively. In the urban areas, the Gini coefficient has increased marginally from 0.35 in 2004-05 to 0.37 in 2011-12.
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