Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty

Abstract

There has been a growing concern on the official estimates of poverty released by the Planning commission. The official poverty estimates have been severely criticised on various counts. In view of this. Planning Commission set up an expert group under the chairmanship of Professor Suresh Tendulkar to examine the issue and suggest a new poverty line and estimates. The expert group has considered this issue in detail and has suggested new methodology to arrive at state wise and all India rural and urban poverty lines for 2004-05, the latest available major National Sample Survey (NSS) round on household consumer expenditure which provides the data base for the calculation of poverty estimates by the Planning Commission. Following are the salient features of the proposed poverty lines: 1. While acknowledging the multi-dimensional nature of poverty, the estimates of poverty will continue to be based on private household consumer expenditure of Indian households as collected by the National Sample Survey (NSS) Organization (NSSO).