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Journalism of Courage
At a time when the Congress is trumpeting the decline in poverty rate by nearly three times under the UPA rule,senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Saturday joined the chorus questioning the Planning Commission criteria for fixing the poverty line.
The opposition has dismissed the estimates as a political gimmick to show more people are now out of poverty by lowering the benchmark. The estimate was based on the Suresh Tendulkar Committee methodology.
Digvijaya said the criteria have baffled him. I have always failed to understand the Planning Commission criteria for fixing poverty line. It is too abstract,cant be same for all areas, he tweeted. The first indicator of poverty is malnourishment and anemia in the family,which he said was easily measurable. Cant we have that as a criteria?
Union minister Kapil Sibal too had questioned the criteria. If the Planning Commission said those who live above Rs 5,000 a month are not at poverty line,there is something wrong with the definition of poverty in this country. How can anybody live at Rs 5,000? he had said.
