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,...

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...

-The Telegraph Annual expenses for the government’s food security programme have been estimated at Rs 112,205 crore, which will make it very difficult for the government to fulfill its commitments on checking fiscal deficit. Food and consumers affairs minister K.V. Thomas disclosed the massive bill on the programme today in the Rajya Sabha, though no mention of this was made in Friday’s budget. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had just said he would foot...

There are two messages, one good, the other, bad, in the latest poverty numbers released by the government. The good news first. It is obvious that poverty has declined in aggregate terms, both in rural and urban India. At a national level, it has declined by 7.4 percentage points from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 29.8% in 2009-10; rural poverty, over the same period, has declined from 41.8% to 33.8%, and urban...

-PTI   Planning Commission today faced criticism inside and outside Parliament for its description of poor and resultant fall in people below the poverty line with Opposition parties saying it was making a "dishonest" attempt to conceal reality through "fraudulent" estimates. BJP hit out at the government and the Planning panel for the conclusion that the number of people living below the poverty line has fallen by seven per cent, alleging that the...