Rangarajan panel to submit poverty report on July 1

Noted economist C Rangarajan—led expert group, set up to review the methodology for estimating poverty, will on July 1 submit its report that is expected to clear the ambiguity over the number of poor in the country.

“We will submit the report on July 1,” Rangarajan told PTI.

The Planning Commission in May 2012 had constituted the expert group to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty, following uproar over the number of poor in the country.

Asked whether he will seek more time to deliberate on the Tendulkar methodology, Rangarajan replied: “I don’t intend to do so.”

The expert group was to submit its report in 7—9 months of its creation. But it got several extensions. The deadline was last extended to June 30.

The Planning Commission’s estimates had drawn flak in September, 2011 when in an affidavit to the Supreme Court it was stated that households with per capita consumption of more than Rs 32 in urban areas and Rs 26 in rural will not be treated as poor.

Announcing the setting up of Rangarajan panel, the then Planning Minister Ashwani Kumar had stressed on the need for revisiting the methodology.

“People’s perspective about poverty has changed.

Therefore, we need to take a fresh look into the methodology for estimation of poverty in the country,” he had said.

According to the Commission’s estimates based on Tendulkar methodology, released in July last year, the poverty ratio in the country declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011—12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004—05 on account of increase in per capita consumption.

In 2011—12, the national poverty line by using the said methodology was estimated at Rs 816 per capita per month in villages and Rs 1,000 per capita per month in cities.

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