India doubled the pace at which it has been reducing poverty in rural areas in the five years to 2009-10 by moving around 47 million over the so-called poverty line. Interestingly, the five years to 2009-10 also saw India grow the fastest in any five-year period in the past, at an average of 8.7%. In the same period, 5 million people in urban India moved above the poverty line. The numbers...
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Now, Planning Commission lowers the poverty line-K Balchand
The Planning Commission on Monday released the latest poverty estimates for the country showing a decline in the incidence of poverty by 7.3 per cent over the past five years and stating that anyone with a daily consumption expenditure of Rs. 28.35 and Rs. 22.42 in urban and rural areas respectively is above the poverty line. The new poverty estimates for 2011-12 will only add to the furore triggered by the...
More »Is India Fudging Its Poverty Numbers?-Tripti Lahiri
According to data released Monday by India’s Planning Commission, the number of people living in absolute poverty in India decreased by 12.5% between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. India’s official poverty rate stands at 29.8%, or close to 350 million people using 2010 population figures, down from around 37.2% or 400 million previously. The announcement was based on an analysis of data gathered from roughly 100,000 households between July 2009 and June 2010,...
More »Bihar's growth story has a poor side-Rukmini Shrinivasan
That Bihar under Nitish Kumar grew at over 10% between 2004-05 and 2009-10 is now well-known. But data released on Monday shows that in the same period, the number of poor in the state actually grew. During this five-year period, Bihar added 50 lakh people to the number of its poor, by far the largest number of any Indian state in this period. A look at Planning Commission numbers for 2009-10...
More »Poverty line: BJP demands debate in Rajya Sabha
-CNN-IBN The Planning Commission's latest report on poverty rates declining has raised a storm in Parliament. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a reply from the government in the Rajya Sabha on the latest numbers. The Planning Commission on Monday said that the poverty in India has come down in the country during the 2009-2010 period. According to its latest report, the Commission said more than 8 per cent of India...
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