Does India get poorer?

The figure released by S.D.Tendulkar suggests that India is getting poorer instead
of becoming richer, a proposition which may be contrary to popular perception but
is true. The widening gulf between rich and poor is a big threat which society till
date fails to understand. The poor should and must get a slice in the development
otherwise the whole exercise would go futile.

Om Prakash Yadav

omjiyadav@gmail.com

omprakashbas@yaho
o.com

S.D.Tendulkar, the former chairman of Prime Minister’s

economic advisory council has prepared a report, according to
which India has 38 % population below poverty line (BPL). At

1
present Planning commission of India’s 2006 figure is only
28.5%. of the population is under BPL.
If Tendulkar’s report is accepted officially by the Govt and the
Planning commission, there shall be an addition of about 11
crore populations in the exiting number of people living BPL. In
India, since 1972, Poverty is being calculated in terms of
calories. 2100 calories for Urban and 2400 calories for rural
areas are the yardsticks to measure poverty in India.
Tendulkar has used different methodology for this survey and
took education, health, sanitation, nutrition and household
income etc into account while calculating Poverty, the
definition of which has always been a point of difference
amongst economists and experts. Many experts, economists
and rights activists believe, and they give some convincing
arguments also to support their views, that poverty
2
measurement formula in India is not satisfactory, there are
actually more people below BPL, they argue.
Efforts has had been made earlier also by the government in
order to find a broader consensus on the definition of poverty.
One N.C.Saxena committee was formed by government in June
this year which suggested that 50% people are under BPL. In
2007, Arjun Sengupta, associated with National commission for
enterprises in unorganised sector, said that 77% of Indians are
in BPL.
Only a couple of years ago, NSSO, the national sampling govt
organisation, has thrown a figure in the public domain that
about 70% of populations in India don’t even spend 20Rs/- a
day on them. Whereas in this country itself, there are people
who gifts 700 crores plane to his wife on birthday. The number
of HNI in India is increasing with galloping speed and it has
3
crossed one lakh figure till date. What a contrast and irony in
deed!
Nitish Kr, CM of Bihar, only a couple of years ago, organised
one ‘Global Seminar’ at Patna for evolving a unanimous
definition on poverty. It was attended by a plethora of
luminaries from across different fields ranging from economy to
science and from NGO to government functionaries. The
seminar deliberated upon ‘Poverty’ and consensus was arrived
at that the definition of poverty should be made ‘broad based’.
Kumar had called on the union government to reconsider the
determinants to define the poverty. The report of Tendular has
vindicated the stand of Nitish kumar.
FALL OUT ON PROPOSED NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY
ACT- the union government is to come out with a historic bill
on food security in the next session of parliament. The
4
proposed legislation is historic in the sense that it would
guarantee availability of at least 25 Kg of grains to one BPL
families per month @ 3 Rs/-. The proposed legislation would
incur an additional 9500 crore rupees on the subsidy of the
grains. At present government is incurring 37,010 crore rupees
on the subsidy of the food meant for BPL families.