(a) whether the Union Government had earlier taken a decision to go for a fresh estimate of the poor
population in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the current status of the fresh estimate being made;
(c) the base year for the current poverty estimate; and
(d) the time by which the task of fresh estimate is likely to be completed by the Planning
Commission?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. ASHWANI KUMAR)
(a) to (d): The methodology for estimation of poverty followed by the Planning Commission has been
based on the recommendations made by the experts in the field from time to time. Government has
since decided to set up a Technical Group to revisit the methodology for estimation of poverty and
identification of poor taking into account multiple dimensions and indicators of poverty so that the
poor and deprived households can obtain the benefit of different government programmes and
schemes. The composition of the Technical Group and its terms of reference are being finalized.
The Planning Commission constituted an Expert Group under the chairmanship of Prof.
Suresh D. Tendulkar in 2005 to review the methodology for estimation of poverty. Tendulkar
Committee computed the poverty lines at all India level as monthly per capita consumption
expenditure (MPCE) of Rs. 447 for rural areas and Rs 579 for urban areas in 2004-05. The Planning
Commission has updated these base year poverty lines of 2004-05 to MPCE of about Rs. 673 in rural
areas and Rs. 860 in urban areas for 2009-10 as per the recommendations of the Tendulkar Committee
using NSS 66th round (2009-10) data of Household Consumer Expenditure Survey.
The large sample surveys on Household Consumer Expenditure are carried out by the NSSO
every 5 years. Since 2009-10 was not a normal year, NSSO decided to conduct Large Sample Survey
on Household Consumer Expenditure again during 2011-12. The estimates of poverty will be
reworked for the latest survey data available. Whenever methodology for estimation is revised the
general practice is to rework the estimates for some of the previous years.