Lok Sabha Question No. 508 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: Calorie and Expenditure Base Poverty Lines
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Shri Sudama Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 508

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2025

## CALORIE AND EXPENDITURE BASE POVERTY LINE

## 508.  SHRI SUDAMA PRASAD:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the report published in the Indian Express dated 01/06/2025 highlighting that calorie/expenditure-based  poverty  lines  hide  widespread  food deprivation, as up to 40% of rural and 20-30% of urban households cannot afford two basic meals daily;
- (b) the details of reason for continuing to rely on poverty indicators that ignore key household expenses like healthcare and education that reduce food consumption, details of any alternative method in place;
- (c) whether the Government has considered adopting a Thali based consumption  to  check  real deprivation for targeted welfare scheme, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of the steps that have been taken since the Household Consumption Expenditure  Survey  (HCES)  2023  report  to  reform poverty measurement to include tangible food access and dietary quality; and
- (e) the details of the bodies/committees responsible for poverty data collection  to  ensure  poverty  reduction  along  with  the  data  on poverty during the last ten years, State and district-wise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS  AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION;  MINISTER  OF STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING AND  MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  CULTURE  [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

- (a) to (e): Sir, the Indian Express dated 01/06/2025 does not contain any  report  which  highlights  that  calorie/expenditure-based  poverty

lines hide widespread food deprivation, as up to 40% of rural and 2030% of urban households cannot afford two basic meals daily.

In  2021,  the  Government  of  India  has  developed  a  comprehensive index  known  as  Multidimensional  Poverty  Index  (MPI)  to  measure poverty  by  capturing  overlapping  deviations  in  dimensions  such  as health,  education  and  standard  of  living,  covering  12  indicators.  It measures both the share of people in poverty and the degree to which they  are  deprived.  The  second  edition  of  the  index  was  released  in 2023. As per the National MPI Report, 2023 released by NITI Aayog, the proportion of population in multidimensional poverty declined from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019-21, indicating that about 135.5 million persons have escaped poverty during the period. Further, as per the discussion paper 'Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06' published by NITI Aayog, multidimensional poverty in India is estimated to have declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 202223 indicating that 24.82 crore people have escaped poverty during this period.  It  is  a  major  contribution  towards  achieving  SDG  target  1.2 that  aims  to  reduce  "at  least  by  half  the  proportion  of  men,  women and  children  of  all  ages  living  in  poverty  in  all  its  dimensions according to national definitions" . This indicates that India is well on course to achieve the SDG target 1.2 much ahead of 2030.

National  Statistics  Office  (NSO)  under  the  Ministry  of  Statistics  & Programme  Implementation  (MoSPI)  conducted  two  back-to-back surveys on Household Consumption Expenditure during August, 2023July,  2024  and  August,  2022-July,  2023  wherein  information  on consumption of around 405 food and non-food items by the household have been collected including education, medical, etc. The reports of HCES 2022-23 and HCES 2023-24 have been released in June 2024 and January 2025 respectively.

Robust  and  well-defined  mechanisms  are  employed  in  surveys  of MoSPI  which  undergo  periodic  improvements  based  on  evolving needs,  feedback,  and  advancements  in  methodologies  to  enhance their effectiveness. For the purpose of reviewing and validating official statistics,  MoSPI  has  constituted  Committees/Working  Groups  (WG) which  consist  of  expert  members  from  various  spheres  such  as Central Ministries/Departments, State/UTs, academia, research, economics, finance, etc.

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