Answer:

Poverty is a state of deprivation, in which some people are not able to meet their basic needs. For evaluating the effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs, we need to measure the extent of poverty, which is done using a poverty line. In India, Poverty line was determined by erstwhile Planning Commission based on consumption data provided by NSSO. However, what constitutes the representative basket of consumption is debatable and is decided differently by different committees. The two most common parameters are income and energy requirement for meeting basic demands.

Rangarajan Methodology: the latest It used the following parameters:

♤ ‘Monthly expenditure of a Household of five’, such as house rent, electricity etc.

♤ Certain normative levels of ‘adequate nourishment’ plus clothing, house rent,

conveyance, education.

♤ Behaviorally determined level of other non-food expenses.

♤ For the first time, apart from calorie, it also considered fats and proteins as part of normative nutrition.

Based on these, it fixed Rs. 972 in rural and Rs. 1407 in urban areas as poverty line. Accordingly, the all-India poverty ratio was 29.5% and 38.2%, in 2011-12 and 2009- 2010, respectively. This was quite high than 21.9% and 29.8% as estimated by the

Tendulkar Committee methodology for the corresponding periods. These contrasting estimates were due to different methodologies adopted.