Poverty in India

US president Donald Trump highlighted India’s success in lifting ‘more than 270 million people out of poverty’ in a decade, during his visit to India.

1) What is absolute poverty?

Poverty is generally defined as ‘condition in which an individual or household lacks the financial resources to afford a basic minimum standard of living’. Absolute poverty occurs when the consumption expenditure falls below the poverty line threshold. The expenditure incurred while obtaining the goods and services of the poverty line basket (PLB) gives the official poverty line.

  2) What is ‘depth of poverty’?

The term ‘depth of poverty’ refers to how far a poor individual or a household is below the official poverty line. The depth of poverty is represented by the poverty gap. Poverty gap is the mean distance separating the population from the poverty line.

3) What are the official committees constituted till now for estimating the number of people living in poverty in India?

Till now, 6 official committees had been constituted for estimating the number of people in India under poverty. These are the working group of 1962; V N Dandekar and N Rath committee in 1971; Y K Alagh committee in 1979; D T Lakdawala committee in 1993; Suresh Tendulkar committee in 2009; and C Rangarajan committee in 2014.

• Is entertainment a part of the poverty line basket (PLB)?

Entertainment is part of the poverty line basket. The other components are food, clothing, rent and conveyance. The PLB gives the goods and services that are considered essential for at least a minimum standard of living. It also determines the poverty line.