Only 5 states are left in India with poverty above 15%.

By 2029, UP, MP, Assam will also come under 15%

Rest of them specially Bihar and Jharkhand, poverty is business for politicians and will stay where it is

Measuring poverty

Based on calorie intake till 2009

Till 2009 - based on calorie intake (ie) how much money does an individual need to consume around 2000 calories per day

Tendulkar committee, 2009

2009 - Tendulkar committee - expanded this definition to include non food expenditures like health and education

"anyone having less than or equal to rupees 447 in rural area and rupees 579 in urban area are considered to be under poverty"

2011 - amount revised to rupees 816 in rural and rupees 1000 in urban

Rangarajan committee

Some other committees like Rangarajan committee, Socio-Economic caste census also tried to define poverty

Tendulkar still holds

But still Tendulkar committee holds threshold

State influence in normal man's life

reasonable question to include in poverty measurement exercises would be the extent to which a person can carve out a life outside of the tentacles of the Indian state.

in the last few months, how many times have you had to deal with the Indian bureaucracy to obtain what was legally yours?

in the last five interactions with any government office, was the government employee rude to you?

The responses to these questions will tell us the status of poverty in India.

Print - does India need a new poverty line

Why the poverty line is a misleading measure of progress?

World Bank report on Poverty

The World Bank’s new estimates say India has made big progress in cutting extreme poverty, defined by people living on less than $3 a day.

Tendulkar poverty line,

rural poverty stands at just 4.1 per cent and urban poverty at 1.9 per cent, according to calculations based on Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022–23 data.

Rangarajan poverty line

But the Rangarajan line, which includes non-food expenditure, particularly on essential items beyond just nutrition, shows a different picture. Rural poverty almost doubles to 7.7 per cent, while urban poverty more than triples to 6.9 per cent.

Rangarajan poverty line + 20%

When you raise the Rangarajan line by 20 per cent to adjust for higher costs, poverty goes up further to 16.6 per cent in rural areas and to 13.9 per cent in urban areas.

How urban and rural - rich spends

the richer deciles spend less on survival and more on building assets and comfort.

The near poor

People who are just above the poverty line are often called the near-poor.
Even if they are not counted as poor, it doesn’t mean their lives are secure.
Any health problem, job loss, or inflation can easily push them back below the line.
many households just above the line still find it hard to make ends meet.
Most of what they earn is spent on food and other basic needs, much like poorer families.

What can be done?

Poverty is not just about crossing a line. It is also about whether people can stay above it with some security and dignity.
If India wants real progress, it needs to look more closely at how families spend and cope.
Any serious effort should consider what it really costs to eat well, stay healthy, and send children to school.
It should also recognise that many people who are not officially poor are still living on the edge.
Progress should not be measured only by how many people cross a threshold.
It should be measured by whether more people have a chance to live decently without fear of falling back. print