Lok Sabha Question No. 5348 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-28
Subject: Task Force on Elimination of Poverty
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: BOORA NARSAIAH GOUD, JAGDAMBIKA PAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5348 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2018

## TASK FORCE ON ELIMINATION OF POVERTY

## 5348. DR. BOORA NARSAIAH  GOUD: SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a)   whether the Government has constituted a Task Force on elimination of poverty from the country;
- (b)   if so, whether the Task Force has since submitted its report;
- (c)   if so, the details of each of the recommendations made by the Task Force and the action taken by the Government thereon;
- (d)   the poverty reduction in the country in the last three five year plans, plan-wise, year-wise and State- wise;
- (e)   whether the Union Government now proposes to set up a committee to identify people below the poverty line across the country; and
- (f)   if so, the details in this regard and the role of the State Governments fixed in defining the BPL population and the time by which a final report is likely to be presented?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) to (f)  Pursuant to the decision taken in the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog held under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Prime Minister on 8th February, 2015, a Task Force on Elimination of Poverty in India was constituted by NITI Aayog on 16th March, 2015 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Panagariya,  former  Vice  Chairman,  NITI  Aayog.  The  report  of  the  Task  Force  was  submitted  to  Prime Minister's Office on 11 th July, 2016. The report of the Task Force primarily focuses on issues of measurement of poverty and strategies to combat poverty. Regarding estimation of poverty, the report of the Task Force states that 'a consensus in favour of either the Tendulkar or a higher poverty line did not emerge. Therefore, the Task Force has concluded that the matter be considered in greater depth by the country's top experts on poverty before a final decision is made. Accordingly, it is recommended that an expert committee be set up to arrive at an informed decision on the level at which the poverty line should be set'. With respect to strategies to  combat  poverty,  the  Task  Force  has  made  recommendations  on  faster  poverty  reduction  through employment intensive sustained rapid growth and effective implementation of anti-poverty programs. The report of the Task Force is under consideration of the Government.

At  present  the  official  poverty  estimates  are  based  on  data  of  Large  Sample  Surveys  on  Household Consumer Expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The latest data of Large Sample Survey on Household Consumer Expenditure has been collected by NSSO in its 68 th round conducted in 2011-12. The poverty estimates for 2011-12 have been computed following the extant Tendulkar methodology and these have been released through a Press Note issued on 22nd July 2013. According to this Press Note, the number of persons living below poverty line in India has been estimated as 27 crore (21.9%) in 2011-12 as compared to 40.76 crore (37.2%) in 2004-05. The rate of decline of poverty ratio during 2004-05 to 2011-12 was 2.18 % per year. The State/UT-wise poverty ratio for 2011-12 and 2004-05 are given at Annexure .

## Annexure

## Poverty ratio for 2004-05 and 2011-12 (Tendulkar Methodology)

(% of persons)

|   S.No. | States            |   2004-05 |   2011-12 |
|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh    |      29.9 |       9.2 |
|       2 | Arunachal Pradesh |      31.1 |      34.7 |
|       3 | Assam             |      34.4 |      32   |
|       4 | Bihar             |      54.4 |      33.7 |
|       5 | Chhattisgarh      |      49.4 |      39.9 |
|       6 | Delhi             |      13.1 |       9.9 |
|       7 | Goa               |      25   |       5.1 |
|       8 | Gujarat           |      31.8 |      16.6 |
|       9 | Haryana           |      24.1 |      11.2 |
|      10 | Himachal Pradesh  |      22.9 |       8.1 |
|      11 | Jammu &Kashmir    |      13.2 |      10.4 |
|      12 | Jharkhand         |      45.3 |      37   |
|      13 | Karnataka         |      33.4 |      20.9 |
|      14 | Kerala            |      19.7 |       7.1 |
|      15 | Madhya Pradesh    |      48.6 |      31.7 |
|      16 | Maharashtra       |      38.1 |      17.4 |
|      17 | Manipur           |      38   |      36.9 |
|      18 | Meghalaya         |      16.1 |      11.9 |
|      19 | Mizoram           |      15.3 |      20.4 |
|      20 | Nagaland          |       9   |      18.9 |
|      21 | Odisha            |      57.2 |      32.6 |
|      22 | Puducherry        |      14.1 |       9.7 |
|      23 | Punjab            |      20.9 |       8.3 |
|      24 | Rajasthan         |      34.4 |      14.7 |
|      25 | Sikkim            |      31.1 |       8.2 |
|      26 | Tamil Nadu        |      28.9 |      11.3 |
|      27 | Tripura           |      40.6 |      14.1 |
|      28 | Uttar Pradesh     |      40.9 |      29.4 |
|      29 | Uttarakhand       |      32.7 |      11.3 |
|      30 | West Bengal       |      34.3 |      20   |
|      31 | All India         |      37.2 |      21.9 |