Relook at poverty methodology?
The contentious issue of India’s poverty estimates is all set to get a relook, with the government informing the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that it will soon be appointing a technical group to “revisit” this matter.
The government also told the House that the expert panel will be constituted and its terms of reference finalised in the next two or three weeks. It assured the House that if necessary, it will “revisit the indicators for determining poverty”.
Minister of state for planning Ashwani Kumar told the House during Question Hour: “The government has since decided to set up a technical group to revisit the methodology for estimation of poverty and identification of poor taking into account multiple dimensions and indicators of poverty so that the poor and deprived households can obtain the benefit of different government programmes and schemes.”
The government’s decision has come following the flak it got for the new poverty estimates that had been announced by the Planning Commission last month. Parliament, too, was rocked over the announcement with MPs demanding that Plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia be removed.
The issue of the government’s poverty estimates came in for criticism in the House, with SP MP Shailendra Kumar accusing the government of making false claims.
The criticism followed the MoS’ remarks informing the House that the country’s poverty ratio has come down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10.
The Shiv Sena’s Anant Geete slammed the government for its faulty methodology in arriving at poverty estimates.
Mr Kumar said till now, the figures have been computed on the basis of the Tendulkar methodology. He added: “However, we have now taken a decision on the instruction of the honourable Prime Minister that we might need to re-assess, if necessary, certain indicators.”
Giving an example, the MoS said, “For example, the rent component in urban areas may have been depressed and we need to look into it. We are going to have a comprehensive review to determine whether we are right on track as far as computing poverty estimates are concerned.”
He also told the House that the government in constituting the technical group will be “trying to ensure that the best possible minds are on that group so that the most rational methodology is adopted for the future so that we are aided and helped in our overarching task of removal of poverty”.
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