Former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister C.Rangarajan on Monday said that the new poverty line for rural areas and urban areas is 19 percent and 40 percent higher than the one set by Tendulkar committee.
“This is 19% higher than the poverty line fixed by Tendulkar report for rural areas and 40% higher for urban areas,” said Rangarajan.
He said that the committee had come to the conclusion that the minimum consumption expenditure for any person in the rural areas should be Rs. 972 and in the urban areas Rs. 1407.
Rangarajan contended that the best way to look at the poverty line is in terms of monthly expenditure of a household.
“In the rural areas it would mean an expenditure of Rs. 4860 per month by a household. Whereas, in the urban areas it would mean expenditure of Rs.7035 per month by a household,” he added.
“This is purely private expenditure but we should add that public expenditure that maybe happening on Health or Education. We should understand that this is a bare minimum standard of living,” said Rangarajan.
A panel headed by C.Rangarajan set the poverty line at RS.32 per day in rural areas and Rs.47 in urban areas.
The panel has dismissed the Tendulkar Committee Report on estimating poverty, which had suggested persons spending below Rs.33 per day in urban areas are to be considered poor.
As per the report submitted by Rangarajan to Minister of State, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, it said the poverty stood at 38.2 per cent in 2009-10 and had slid to 29.5 per cent in 2011-12.
The Rangarajan Committee was set up last year to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and clear the ambiguity over the number of poor in the country. (ANI)