The issue of poverty estimates has been the subject matter of public debate in and outside Parliament. Government respects and is fully conscious of the sensitivities of the people on this issue.
The methodology for arriving at poverty estimates has been in place for the last several years and various committees in the past have arrived at estimates based upon certain indices of poverty from time to time. These Committees include the Alagh Committee (1977), the Lakdawala Committee (1989) followed by the Tendulkar Committee (2005) which submitted its recommendations in 2009.
The country has made rapid economic progress in the last several years and the sharp edges of poverty have been substantially blunted as a result of various policies and schemes of the Government for empowerment of the poor. At the same time poverty estimates need to be reviewed from time to time with reference to the basic needs of the people. Government fully recognizes that any realistic estimate of poverty must be predicated on earnings that can satisfy the basic human needs to ensure a life of dignity to all.Government had accordingly decided to undertake the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 based on the recommendations of Saxena and Hashim Committees mandated to capture various kinds of deprivations, which is now on going. The results are expected shortly.
Talking to media, Minister of State for Planning Mr Ashwini Kumar said that the Government had also taken a decision to set up a Technical Group to revise/revisit the methodology for estimating poverty in a manner which is consistent with the current realities. The Technical Group to be constituted will also have the benefit of SECC, 2011 data, based upon a comprehensive census which will enable the Government to purposively revisit poverty estimates and identify the poor.
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