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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Tendulkar's poverty line not meant to be an acceptable level of living for aam aadmi: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Tendulkar's poverty line not meant to be an acceptable level of living for aam aadmi: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

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published Published on Oct 5, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 5, 2011
-The Economic Times
 
Pressure from within and outside the government has forced Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to clarify that the Tendulkar Commission's poverty line was, "not meant to be an acceptable level of living for the aam aadmi."

Ahluwalia said a new methodology will be worked out to determine entitlements of beneficiaries under various schemes for poor. A Socio-Economic and Caste-Economic census was also underway to survey all rural households to collect information about socio-economic indicators. The census is expected to be completed by January.

In a meeting between Ahluwalia and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh that preceded their joint press conference, it was decided not to use the Planning Commission's state-wise poverty estimates for determining the number of households to be included in government's poverty-alleviation programmes. "We are now clearly, categorically and unequivocally saying there is no link between state-wise poverty estimates done by Planning Commission and the selection of (welfare) beneficiaries," Ramesh said.

Eligibility and entitlement of rural households for different central government schemes will be determined after the Census is completed in January. In the meantime, an expert committee will be constituted by the rural development ministry and the Commission, which will consult with states, civil society and other experts, to develop a methodology to ensure that no poor or deprived household is left out of the beneficiary list. The expert committee will ensure that this methodology is consistent with the provisions of the Food Security bill, when it is finalised. This puts an end to the Planning Commission's system of "imposing" state-wise caps on the deprivation or poverty list.

The deputy chairman said that the Planning Commission has "supported the idea that entitlements should go beyond the poverty line level." Ahluwalia's clarification comes in the wake of outrage within government and protests in the Opposition over an affidavit to the Supreme Court which said that the Expert Group on Methodology for Estimation of Poverty's calculation of poverty line - 32 per day in urban areas and 26 in rural areas for a family of 5 - was good enough.

The deputy chairman's acknowledgement that the Commission's poverty line represented a 'distress level' and not 'a comfortable level' could force the government to review the beneficiaries of the Food Security Act. The proposed legislation, cleared by an empowered group of ministers, puts the 'priority category' -households that receive grain at highly subisidised prices - at 41% of the rural population. "The present state-wise poverty estimates using the Planning Commission methodology will not be used to impose any ceiling on the number of households to be included in the different government programmes and schemes," a joint statement issued by the rural development ministry and the Planning Commission states.

The deputy chairman said that the Commission had reported the poverty line in terms of monthly expenditure of a family of five (4824 for urban and 3,905 for rural areas) as "this is how monthly budgets are normally understood". Even as he offered the explanation, Ahluwalia said that these figures were not meant to be a "cap" to determine who was poor. While the Planning Commission is not withdrawing the controversial affidavit, the poverty line has been effectively made an academic exercise.


The Economic Times, 4 October, 2011, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-04/news/30242654_1_poverty-line-aam-aadmi-rural-households


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