The poverty line - how should it be defined?

India since independence has achieved a lot in the term of GDP growth, per capita income, and in
other economic index but it still has a very big portion of population living under poverty line.
Generally the populations below the poverty line are considered as the people who can't afford their
basic daily requirement.
Modern economists define the poverty line in various ways. Planning commission of India has
periodically defined the poverty line. A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Prof.
Suresh. D Tendulkar, to review the methodology for estimation of poverty line for the period 2004
2005 and 2009 2010.
Tendulkar used implicit prices derived from quantity and data collected in household consumer
expenditure surveys to compute and define the poverty line.
Tendulkar's report says a person was considered above poverty line if he/she earns Rs 22.44 per
day in rural area and Rs 28.65 per day in urban areas. According to Tendulkar's committee 21.9%
Indians were considered below poverty line in the year 2011 2012.
This figure of poverty line defined by Prof Tendulkar is contested by many people. It is being said; in
the age of high inflation fixing this poverty line is ludicrous. These days one needs at least Rs 30 for
a single meal and a person's calorie requirement can't be met by a single meal. Beside food, there
are other requirements like cloths, shelter etc. So the amount suggested by Prof. Tendulkar to define
poverty line is untenable.
The definition given by Tendulkar received a lot of criticism. So the Planning Commission constituted
an expert group headed by noted economist C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee. The
committee that was constituted to find the correct measure to define the poverty line has still to
submit its report.
Meanwhile, a report on Indian states by current RBI governor Raghuram Rajan is being considered
to define the poverty line.
Rajan has categorized the states on composite index on the basis of 10 equally weighted indicators
for monthly per capita consumption expenditure, education, health, household amenities, poverty
rate, female literacy, percentage of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe population, urbanization
rate, financial inclusion and physical connectivity.
There is however no consensus on this definition. In its absence we need to give a new definition to
poverty. Every individual should be considered poor or below poverty line who can't fulfill all his/her
basic requirement of life. A person must have enough earning so that he/she can afford two times
meal to remain healthy and have cloths to wear. Besides, fulfill other bare minimal needs for survival.

In the term of individual's poverty calculation, it can be considered as monthly consumption

expenditure capability, expenditure on education, health, household amenities, etc. Imbalance in any
of these should be considered as a point of poverty for the individual.
Poverty should never be measured on the basis of family income. As every individual have specific
requirement. In the patriarchal Indian society, it is high time to consider every woman individually
and she should never be considered dependent on other family members.
Poverty line should not merely consider as income level but also the availability of resources for daily
requirements. If an individual falls short in them he/ she should be bracketed under the poverty line.

Will the recently passed Lok Pal Bill end

Corruption in India?
The very first day of the year 2014 turned out to be promising one, as the much awaited Lokpal bill
became an act after receiving signatures from the President of India on January 1, 2014. It brought
cheer to all the citizens who were waiting for the act to be made to curb corruption in the country.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas bill was pending in the Parliament since many years. It was due to the
efforts of India against corruption movement that the bill again came to life & demand was raised to
make it a law as early as possible.
However critics say that the passing of the Lokpal bill was a publicity stunt by the government for
attracting votes in the forthcoming general elections this year.
The Lokpal Bill, 2013, also referred to as The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013 seeks to provide for
the establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain
public functionaries and for matters connecting them. The states will have Lokayuktas appointed and
there will be one Lokpal at the centre.
The bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha on 22 December 2011 and was passed by the house on 27
December 2011 as The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011. The bill was subsequently tabled in the
Rajya Sabha on 29 December 2011. After a marathon debate that stretched until midnight of the
following day, the vote failed to take place for lack of time. On 21 May 2012, the bill was referred to a
Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha for consideration.
The Lokpal bill was finally passed in the Rajya Sabha on 17 December 2013 after making certain
amendments to the earlier Bill and in the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2013. After that it received
assent from the President of India.
The few changes that were made in the newly passed bill are; bringing Prime Minister under its
ambit, but with certain limitations & no transfer of the CBI officer investigating the case without the
permission of Lokpal, etc.
The bill was introduced in Parliament following massive public protests led by anti-corruption
crusader Anna Hazare and his associates at Ralegaon Siddhi, Maharashtra in December 2013.
The Lokpal bill is one of the most widely discussed and debated bills in India, both by the media and
the people of India at large, in the recent times. The bill received worldwide media coverage.
However, the big question is how to implement Lokpal Act properly and will it end corruption in the
country? The answer to this is even more complex. Making Lokpal a law is not enough, what is
needed is its proper implementation and authorization.

Also the persons appointed as Lokayuktas should be free to act in their own authority. The person
should not work for the ruling government and he should work for the people to serve the nation.
We have seen in past how some agencies of the government failed to act against the government in
corruption cases. This act that has provided a stronghold & the independence of Lokpal should be
protected.
One of the contentious points of the Act is the committee which will recommend the name of the
Lokpal will have members from the ruling party with no opposition members or from the civil society.
This means that it is giving an option to the government to abuse the power as it has happened in
the past. The recommendation should be given by a broader based committee and this should
provision should be incorporated in the Act sooner tha later.
Another important question that is not answered is the background of the Lokpal? Whether the
Lokpal should be form the legal background, an eminent jurist or a retired or serving bureaucrat. All
these questions need to be answered. Critics say that the Lokpal will only add to the expenditure of
the government. Is it true?
The need of the hour is to properly implement the Lokpal act and have a fair recommendation for the
Lokpal. We can only nip corruption in the bud if transparency is maintained while selecting the
Lokpal and also during the proceedings of the corruption cases. Corruption is the biggest cause of
dissatisfaction among Indians. It is hoped that the Lokpal will be able to make India corruption free.

Food Security Bill - A poll gimmick or

anti hunger action plan
The National Food Security Bill, 2013 was passed and ratified by both the houses of the parliament.
The bill envisages ensuring food security to 67% of the Indian population, excluding 50% in urban
area and 25% in rural areas.
The bill divides the whole Indians into three categories: the Anna Antyodaya Yojana Households who
will continue to get 35kg of food grains under the present scheme also, the priority households
entitled to 5kg of rice, wheat and cereals at Rs.5,3 and 2/- respectively or 25kg for an average family
of five and the exclusionary households without any benefits.
The bill has also brought a spate of furor into the public domain along with it. The gist of dissent
against the bill is the very core of the policy, the targeted public distribution scheme.
The clamor to universalize the scheme was on the premise of past hindsight where the much
intended beneficiaries got excluded from the scheme due to large scale corruption and aberration in
delineating the beneficiary groups.
The entitlements on a per capita basis rather than on per family household basis will strike the
families with less than 5 persons hard.
Also the bill is in clear violation of a Supreme Court judgment to give not less than 35kg a month to
all the Below poverty Line (BPL) households and the ruling of Indian Council for Medical Research
prescribing not less than 14kg a month to an adult and 7kg a month to a child.
The bill does not include any nutritional standards thereby avoiding nutrient groups like pulses,
vegetables, fruits etc. The lack of mention of community kitchens, free meals to the destitute etc is
highly conspicuous.
The bill has also been earmarked 'anti-farmer' as the State procures the food grains from the
farmers directly on such a large scale which excludes them from other private markets where they
could get a higher price for their produce.
The Minimum Support Price provided to the farmers though will help them in times of distress like
during drought, floods etc, it would have adverse ramifications at normal times of produce.
Also the excluded category is though less in percentage terms it would actually amount to lakhs in
absolute numbers. The current environ in the cities shows us that a large population living in the
cities are unemployed and even if employed are in the unorganized sector. About half of the
population being excluded in urban areas has left the 'urban-poor' in consternation.
It is conclusive that all the matters mentioned above have to be dealt with at the earliest and thus a
whole revamp of the program has to be implemented.

However keeping aside the all these concerns the bill is more than a political gimmick for a country
like ours. Even today a substantial amount of our population still goes to sleep on an empty stomach
and India ranks number one in the number of growth stunted children in the world.
It is high time that we pay our unflagging attention to the socially excluded and starving population in
our country.
India spends about 0.9% of its GDP as food subsidies one of the lowest in Asia and this bill
envisages it to raise it to a meager 1.25%, still lower than other fast developing nations in Asia.
Social security to the citizens of a highly lauded democratic nation like ours cannot be calculated in
mere monetary terms. The subsidies for ensuring food security should be considered supremely
inevitable and the surplus would just have to balanced somewhere like implying cuts in humongous
import subsidies bequeathed for oil, gold etc.
The 12th Five Year Plan has also taken steps to identify the beneficiaries of various schemes
specific to each scheme. The Social and Economic Caste Census (SECC) is an integral part of this
objective.
The SECC expected to submit its report by April 2014 discerns poverty as a multidimensional factor
rather than on consumption expenditure terms alone.
It measures the various facets of poverty in terms of deprivations like lack of a pucca house,
identifying physically disabled persons etc.
In addition nutritional poverty can be identified from the results of National Family Health Survey.
With the help of all these, an effective list of the beneficiaries can be conclusively derived and the
effective implementation of the scheme with acute cooperation between the Centre and the States is
sure to make the program a flagship program in the country.