Poverty in India on the Decline

Of the 269.3 million poor worldwide, 216.5 million are estimated to be living in rural India.

Of the 269.3 million poor worldwide, 216.5 million are estimated to be living in rural India. But according to recent findings by India’s Planning Commission, poverty might be on the decline in the country. Rajeev Shukla, minister of state for planning and Parliamentary affairs, stated in the Lok Sabha this week that as per Planning Commission estimates, “The number of persons living below the poverty line in the country has declined from [407.4 million] in 2004-05 to [270 million] in 2011-12.” The Planning Commission uses a poverty line based on ‘Monthly Per capita Consumption Expenditure’. In 2005, an expert committee constituted under the late Professor Suresh Tendulkar to review the methodology for poverty estimation recommended an MPCE of Rs 447 for rural areas and Rs 579 for urban areas as the poverty line for 2004-05, later updated to Rs 816 and Rs 1,000 respectively. The latest data on household spending is from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s 68th round conducted in 2011-12. By the current findings, the states with the highest number of people living below the poverty line are Uttar Pradesh with 59.8 million and Bihar with 35.8 million. Over the past ten years, poverty in India has declined consistently: from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10.

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