An expert group headed by noted economist C Rangarajan has recommended a methodology for measurement of poverty in the country.
The report of this expert group was submitted to the Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh here on Monday, by Rangarajan, who was Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) in the erstwhile UPA Government, said.
“We have recommended a mechanism for measurement of poverty. This will help the Government in estimating the level of poverty in the country,” Rangarajan told Business Line.
He however declined to get into specifics, stating that it was for the Government to take a view on the report.
Asked whether the expert group had recommended a relative poverty line as against the Tendulkar formula of an absolute poverty line, Rangarajan said the report referred to both approaches.
“It is not exactly right to say that we have made a case for a relative poverty line. We have dealt with both relative as well as absolute poverty line issues,” Rangarajan said.
The Planning Commission had in May 2012 set up a five-member expert group headed by then PMEAC Chairman Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar committee methodology for estimating poverty.
The methodology recommended by Tendulkar received lot of flak, leading the Planning Commission to set up this expert group to review the methodology.
According to the Planning Commission’s estimates based on the Tendulkar methodology, released in July last year, the poverty ratio declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05. The decline came on account of an increase in per capita consumption.
In 2011-12, the national poverty line — using the Tendulkar methodology — was estimated at Rs 816 per capita per month in villages and Rs 1,000 per capita per month in cities.