Criticism Leads Govt to Revise Poverty Line Yardstick

Rajeev Shukla, Minister of state for Planning said, "The poverty line is being reassessed. The Rangarajan committee is doing just that. In any case, the poverty line is not linked to pro-poor programmes like rural job guarantee or food security. This is mainly created as a measure that will totally eliminate social and economic backwardness," reported TOI.

Shukla further exclaimed that it is the National Sample Survey (NSS) figures that throw light on decline in poverty during UPA ruling. He also states that the poverty figures should be compared between NDA and UPA regime as there was a decline of just 0.8 percent during NDA regime whereas in UPA regime poverty has declined at the rate of 2.2 percent.

“Poverty has gone down because many social welfare schemes like MNREGA etc have been launched. So saying that poverty has not declined is wrong,” added Shukla, as reported by DNA.

On the other hand, opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named the calculations of the Planning Commission as unauthentic statistics and said that even after 42 years, poverty cannot be eradicated completely though the slogan to eradicate poverty had been raised since 1971.

The UPA government is all set to modify the poverty line especially to avoid being depicted as an insensitive ruler in the coming general election. The poverty line isprojected on the basis of consumption and expenditure recorded in the five-year survey which is undertaken by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

Also Read: Only 26.7 Percent below Poverty Line by 2015