Name: Determining the Poverty Line in India
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 5 min 44 s
Description: How do we determine who is poor? How do we measure poverty? This video sheds light on the variables used by India and its features.

Question

Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India.

Accepted Answer

Income or consumption levels is a common method used to measure poverty. A person is taken to be poor if his or her income or consumption is below a given minimum level, and he is unable to spend even a minimum amount for his requirements. This consumption level is not the same for everyone. A situation when even the necessary commodities to fulfil basic needs are not in reach is poverty. While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement, etc., are taken into account. These commodities are multiplied by their respective prices in rupees. The minimum food requirements while estimating the poverty line is calculated on the basis of calorie requirement, which is different for urban and rural areas.

As per $2000$ figures, a family of five which is not able to spend even Rs $1, 640$ per month in rural areas is considered to be below the poverty line. This figure is Rs. $2, 270$ per month for the urban area because the prices may differ. The expected calorie intake has been fixed at $2400$ calories per person in rural areas because they are involved in more physical work and require more energy. In urban areas, this number is $2100$ calories as they do not perform much physical labour. A person consuming less than this amount in rural and urban areas respectively is considered to be living below the poverty line.

Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India.

Important Questions on Poverty as a Challenge

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