Poverty line is an abstraction that s essential to measure how poor a country is.
That knowledge is useful to make policy, design political campaigns and for development. Going by the 60 per cent of income rule, a poor Indian has an annual income of Rs 10,560, or Rs 880 per month. This looks like a fairly foolproof method, but has some built in glitches. For example, calorie needs vary across genders and age . The basket of foods chosen can distort measurement.