Page 77 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Unit 7: Poverty: Concept, Cause and Government Policies

Goa 316.2 306.0 25.5 14.6 20.8 Notes
Gujarat 279.4 320.7 43.1 28.0 37.8
Haryana 294.1 312.1 40.0 24.2 35.6
Himachal Pradesh 272.7 316.0 36.7 13.6 34.6
Jammu & Kashmir 289.1 281.1 32.5 6.9 26.3
Jharkhand 227.7 304.1 65.9 41.8 60.7
Karnataka 266.9 294.8 56.9 34.2 49.5
Kerala 286.5 289.2 33.9 23.9 31.3
Madhya Pradesh 232.5 274.5 49.0 31.8 44.6
Maharashtra 268.6 329.0 59.3 30.3 47.8
Manipur 322.3 366.3 64.4 67.2 65.1
Meghalaya 284.1 393.4 38.0 23.0 35.2
Mizoram 316.5 355.7 16.6 6.3 11.8
Nagaland 381.7 409.6 20.1 21.8 20.4
Orissa 224.2 279.3 63.0 34.5 59.1
Pondicherry 220.3 264.3 28.1 32.4 30.9
Punjab 286.9 342.3 20.3 27.2 22.4
Rajasthan 271.9 300.5 40.8 29.9 38.3
Sikkim 266.6 362.2 33.0 20.4 31.8
Tamilnadu 252.6 288.2 51.0 33.7 44.6
Tripura 275.8 316.6 34.3 25.4 32.9
Uttar Pradesh 244.3 281.3 50.9 38.3 48.4
Uttarakhand 249.5 306.7 36.7 18.7 32.0
West Bengal 235.5 295.2 42.5 31.2 39.4
All India 50.1 31.8 45.3

Note : The estimates of Chhattisgarh. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal are for state as they exist after bifurcation in 2001. The estimates for 1993-94
have been calculated form the unit data using district and state boundaries of the divided
states in 1993-94.
Source : Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty, Planning
Commission, Government of India, November, 2009.
Periodically varying definitions of the poverty line tend to complicate the matter further. In the absence
of an appropriate definition, efforts to remove poverty cannot be meaningful. In the past various
measures have been adopted by the Government to tackle the menace of poverty in the Country.
Cheap grain, other foods and kerosene through the PDS, rural and urban employment programs,
free education and health facilities, etc., are some key government programmes in this direction.
Government has also proposed food security legislation, according to which, for all people living
below poverty line, the provision would be made for access to necessary food at affordable prices.
But absence of appropriate definition is coming in way of a judicious poverty elimination programme.
Recently Supreme Court has questioned the basis of defining the poverty line according to which
only 36 percent of the population is living below poverty line. It may be noted that some time back
Expert Group headed by Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar, had suggested an improved definition for
measuring poverty, on the lines of which formula for measuring poverty has also been suggested.
The same has also been accepted by the Planning Commission. Before the report of the Expert Group,
the government assessment of poverty was that in 2004-05 only 28 percent people were poor and the

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