The government on Wednesday said it will review the methodology for measuring poverty based on the findings of the NSSO Survey 2009-10.
"The methodology for measuring poverty in future will be reviewed on the basis of the 2009-10 NSSO survey and by taking a holistic view on all relevant indices of poverty, as identified by experts," Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
He said the Planning Commission is the nodal agency for estimation of poverty at the national and state-level based on large sample surveys on household consumer expenditure, as conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
The poverty line at the June, 2011, price level was fixed provisionally at Rs 965 per capita per month in urban areas and Rs 781
As per a report by a Planning Commission expert group, the poverty line at 2004-05 prices is monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs 446.68 in rural areas and Rs 578.80 in urban areas.
"After 2004-05, the large sample survey on household consumer expenditure has been conducted in 2009-10, the results of which are being processed," Kumar added.
He said the latest poverty estimates, as compiled by the Suresh Tendulkar Expert Committee, indicate that the poverty ratio at all-India level has declined from 45.3 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.
"Assuming an average family size of five persons, this amounts to about 8.1 crore families in the country being below the poverty line in 2004-05," Kumar said.
