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Indian Economic Policy

Notes residues, dung cakes and coal as cooking fules, This proportion is 91 percent for rural areas and
30 per cent for urban areas. But all theses fuels cause indoor pollution and cause such diseases
as arbeculosis, asthma, heart diseases and respiratory disorders. But the poor cannot afford
LPG which is considered as a clean cooking fuel, as this fuel is the prerogative of the middle
class and the affluent sections.
Moreover, state support towards LPG has been using over time but kerosene has been witnessing
a education in state support. Kerosene is a more affordable institute for the poor. The monthly
per capita expenditure on kerosene has been calculated at ` 20 per capita per month. This is
based on the assumption that a family gets 10 to 12 litres of kerosene per month on ration cards.
For a family of 5 person, a typical family consumes 2.2 litres per head and it is being sold at a
subsidized price of ` 9 per litre. Assuming that all families are able to obtain their quota of
kerosene on ration cards, the monthly expenditure on kerosene comes to ` 20 person.
Thus, the total per capita monthly energy requirements entail an expenditure of ` 55 — for
electricity assumption ` 35 and for cooking fuel ` 20.
5. Miscellaneous Expenditure includes cost on travel purchase of books and stationery for school
going children, expenditure on certain social ceremonies like birth, death or festivals etc, purchase
of consumer goods, furniture, fixtures for family needs etc., it is expected that miscellaneous
expenditure works out at Rs. 820 per family per month or ` 164 per capita.
These calculations are based on the basic needs approach at minimum levels. The purpose is
not to provide only for subsistence, but to move towards a more humane level of life.
Summing up, the minimum costs on the assumption of basic needs approach work out to be
` 840 per month or ` 4,200 per month per family. [(i) Balanced autritious diet Rs. 573; (ii) Health
Insurance Expenditure ` 30; (iii) Clothing ` 17; (iv) Energy consumption ` 55 and (v)
Miscellaneous Expenditure ` 164.]
On the basis of the holistic approach regarding the poverty line inclusive of basic needs, Mohan
Guruswamy has calculated that” 69% of India’s population is below the poverty line i.e. over
71 crore persons. This has to be seen against the official figure of 26 per cent persons below the
poverty line i.e. nearly 2.65 times. The situation in rural India is appalling with 84% of the rural
population below the more holistic poverty line; it is certainly better in urban India at a round
42 per cent”.
World Bank on the basis of the international poverty lines at the rate of $1 per day has calculated
in its World Development Report (2005) that in India for the year 1999-00, people below this poverty
line were of the order of 34.7% and if we use the norm of $2 per day, then 80% of he Indian
population was below the poverty line.
7.4 Definition of Poverty and Right to Food : Emerging Issues

As noted above different figures are being presented by the Government about poverty. Therefore it
is difficult to understand that how many people in India are poor.
Table 5 : Poverty Estimates and Poverty Lines for 1993-94
State Poverty Line (`` `` `) Poverty

Rural Urban Rural Urban Total

Andhra Pradesh 244.1 282.0 48.1 35.2 44.6
Arunachal Pradesh 285.1 297.1 60.0 22.6 54.5
Assam 266.3 306.8 54.9 27.7 51.8
Bihar 236.1 266.9 62.3 44.7 60.5
Chhattisgarh 229.1 283.5 55.9 28.1 50.9
Delhi 315.4 320.3 16.2 15.7 15.7

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