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Journalism of Courage
What is the guideline now?
Based on the Tendulkar Committee report,the poverty line stands at a consumption expenditure of Rs 579 per capita per month in urban areas,and one of Rs 447 in rural areas. Itworks out to daily expenses of roughly Rs 20 and Rs 15. The cutoffs are based on 2004-05 prices. The Supreme Court asked the Planning Commission to revise these to reflect 2011 prices.
What is in the affidavit?
The Planning Commission has told the Supreme Court that the poverty line,based on June 2011 prices,can be placed provisionally at Rs 965 per capita per month consumption in urban areas and Rs 781 in rural areas. It works out to a daily expenditure around Rs 32 and Rs 26.
Do these yardsticks count?
They are only for identifying the proportion of poor persons in any state,not for identifying the poor themselves. Identification of BPL households is done by the Rural Development Ministry based on parameters of deprivation such as lack of a house and level of literacy.
How was the revision done?
The Commission needed to use figures from a 2009-10 NSSO survey on consumer expenditure and work with the Tendulkar Committee report,which set out a procedure to adjust for inflation. It used an interim calculation,factoring in the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers and the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers for Rural Areas at an all-India level.
Are the figures as low as they seem?
The translation of monthly expenditure into daily expenditure makes them look low. Also,they reflect not income figures but private expenditures. B D Virdi,who submitted the affidavit,cites calculations based on NSS data for 2004-05 and says that cereal consumption works out to 60.80 kg rural and 51.20 kg urban per month for a family of five living near the poverty line as identified by the Tendulkar Committee. This does not look too low. Besides,Virdi contends,a BPL family is likely to secure these foodgrains cheap from the PDS.
What next?
The government felt using the NSS of 2009-10,a drought year,would give figures not reflecting the true picture. It is now considering a revision after the 2011-12 survey is complete.
