Nearly one in three Indians was poor in 2011-12, according to a new report that was commissioned following widespread criticism two years ago that the government grossly underestimated the number of poor in the country by choosing an unrealistic poverty line for such estimates.
The panel, headed by former RBI governor C Rangarajan who also was the chairman of the prime minister's economic advisory council in the UPA government, estimates there were 363 million people, or 29.5% of India's 1.2 billion population, who lived in poverty in 2011-12. The number is significantly higher that the official estimate of 269 million and the difference -- of about 94 million -- is attributed primarily to a change in the definition of the poverty line.
The Rangarajan panel considers people living on less than Rs. 32 a day in rural areas and Rs. 47 a day in urban areas as poor. In contrast, the official estimate- based on recommendations made by late economist Suresh Tendulkar -- defines people living on less than Rs. 27 a day rural areas and Rs. 33 a day in urban areas as poor. These figures, ever since they were adopted by the UPA government during its first term, have been criticised for being unrealistic and artificially seeking to lower the poverty numbers. The official estimates in use put the poverty ratio in 2011-12 at 21.9%, almost 8 percentage points lower than Rangarajan's estimates



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