On
23rd July, 2013 the Planning Commission released the data relating
to poverty estimates for the year 2011-12.
The data was compiled on the basis of methodology laid down by Tendulkar
Committee report which calculates poverty on the basis of Monthly Per Capita
Expenditure. As per this data poverty has considerably declined from 37.2% in
2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12. The data fixes poverty line at Rs.816/- per capita
per month in rural areas and Rs.1000/- per capita per month in urban areas. The
data has been widely criticized in the media for being a statistical exercise
with an insensitive and impractical approach. However, before forming an
opinion on the subject it would be prudent to go into a little bit of details.
Poverty
Literally,
poverty is a condition of deprivation wherein the individual or the household
is not able to meet its basic needs like adequate food, safe drinking water,
sanitation facilities, health facilities, education and entertainment. Apart
from income an important aspect in this regard is the availability and access
to these services as higher income may not necessarily mean access to the basic
services referred above. It would also depend on availability and accessibility
to these goods and services for all sections of the society.
United Nations defines poverty as
follows, ““Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a
violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate
effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family,
not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow
one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means
insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and
communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living
on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation”
In view of the above definition, it
would be evident that poverty is multi-dimensional. Apart from inequities in
income, it also means inequities in availing of facilities and opportunities
and inequities in social participation. Apart from being painful to the
individual, these inequities are also harmful for the society. Due to its
adverse effects, poverty reduction has been one of the most important goals of
various international agencies including the United Nations who adopted poverty
and hunger reduction as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals in which
specific targets have been set for the Governments to be achieved by 2015.
Poverty Line
Poverty Line is an economic
benchmark of income required for maintaining a minimum standard of life.
International agencies had earlier set the benchmark at one dollar per day, but
the World Bank has now set the benchmark at $1.25 per day. As per World Bank
data, 32.7% of the Indian population was below this benchmark in the year 2010.
However, many of the countries have not accepted this poverty line and various
Governments have calculated their own poverty lines as per their economic
conditions.
In India, the earlier official poverty line was based on
per capita consumption level. This was based on a bundle of commodities which was
related to the consumption corresponding to specific number of calories in the
year 1973-74. The number of calories was 2400 for rural areas and 2100 for
urban areas. Later poverty estimates were also broadly based on this criterion.
However, this was not found to be reflecting the real situation as consumption
patterns had changed over the years. Further, these poverty lines were adjusted
for inflation by using different indices which caused the lines to move in
different ways and it was felt these did not reflect the actual situation. Hence
a need was felt to reassess the entire situation. Therefore, the Planning
Commission appointed a committee in 2005 under Chairmanship of Professor Suresh
Tendulkar in to revisit the entire issue. The committee submitted its report in
2009 and its recommendations were accepted by the Planning Commission.
However, many people were not in agreement with the
findings of Tendulkar committee and suggested that poverty lines suggested by
the Committee were too low. In view of these representations, the Planning
Commission constituted one more committee in June, 2012 under the Chairmanship
of Dr.C.Rangrajan to review the methodology for measurement of poverty. However,
as the report of this committee will be available only in 2014, the present
estimates for the year 2011-12 have been calculated on the basis of the
methodology suggested in Tendulkar Committee report.
(To be continued in Part-II)
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