What the new expenditure survey says about poverty
1 year ago

What the new expenditure survey says about poverty

New Indian Express  

The publication of a fact sheet by the National Sample Survey Office, containing the results of the NSS Household Consumer Expenditure Survey data for 2022-23, a decade after the publication of the last survey data in 2011-12, has again sparked a debate regarding poverty in India. Using the 2022-23 data on average monthly per capita consumer expenditure for rural and urban areas, some experts have gone overboard in claiming poverty has been nearly eradicated in India. For instance, NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyan claimed poverty in rural India, estimated at around 25.7 percent of the population in 2011-12, has declined to below 5 percent. India’s GDP growth has ranged between 3.8 and 7 percent in the last five years and the GDP shrank 5.83 percent in 2020 because of the pandemic.

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History of this topic

Is poverty being underestimated in India?
2 months ago

Is poverty being underestimated in India?

The Hindu  

Last month, the government released a factsheet on the 2023-24 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, which recorded a decline in poverty in urban and rural areas. Over the last few years, policymakers and academics have debated the issues of incomparable data sets, the unavailability of data, and the definition of an adequate consumption basket to determine a poverty line. Bhanumurthy: In …

Mint Primer: How to read SBI’s latest poverty estimates
2 months, 3 weeks ago

Mint Primer: How to read SBI’s latest poverty estimates

Live Mint  

A recent report by the State Bank of India has stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest with its claims of a sharp reduction in poverty levels in India, particularly rural areas, in the past decade. The Suresh Tendulkar Committee calculated the poverty line at ₹816 per capita per month for rural areas and ₹1,000 for urban areas in 2011-12. In …

Indian economy: Betwixt questions and half answers
2 months, 3 weeks ago

Indian economy: Betwixt questions and half answers

New Indian Express  

It is that time of the year when public attention coalesces around the economy—and the second quarter GDP growth of 5.4 percent has catalysed angst among the public. The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2023-24 reveals that the rural Indian’s average monthly per capita expenditure is at Rs 4,122 and for the urban Indian is Rs 6,996—up from Rs 1,430 …

India’s household consumption survey doesn’t feed public policy all that well
2 months, 4 weeks ago

India’s household consumption survey doesn’t feed public policy all that well

Live Mint  

India’s government recently released the findings of its 2023-24 survey of household consumption expenditure and expressed satisfaction at the seeming narrowing of spending gaps in society at large and between rural and urban populations. However, we must not set too much store by the monthly per capita consumption expenditure figures of this sample survey. India’s free foodgrain scheme may explain …

'Double engine' of private investment, mass consumption derailed under Modi government: Congress
4 months, 2 weeks ago

'Double engine' of private investment, mass consumption derailed under Modi government: Congress

New Indian Express  

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh urged the government to accept what the Congress has been proposing - raising MGNREGA wages to a minimum of Rs.400 per day, guaranteeing MSP and a loan waiver for farmers, and a monthly income support scheme for women - to kickstart income growth in rural India. Last week, several CEOs from India Inc …

PM’s Economic Advisory Council chief Bibek Debroy pitches for a review of India’s official poverty line
9 months, 1 week ago

PM’s Economic Advisory Council chief Bibek Debroy pitches for a review of India’s official poverty line

The Hindu  

Making a pitch to revisit the country’s poverty line, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman Bibek Debroy on Wednesday questioned whether a decline in inequality as suggested by the latest household consumption expenditure survey was a “good thing”, and termed the debate over the gap between the survey’s findings and spends measured in the national income accounts as “sterile”. “We …

India logs fall in inequality between 2011-12 and 2022-23, says govt report
9 months, 3 weeks ago

India logs fall in inequality between 2011-12 and 2022-23, says govt report

Hindustan Times  

Inequality in both rural and urban areas of India fell between 2011-12 and 2022-23, according to a full report on Household Consumption Expenditure released on Friday by the National Sample Survey Office. The full report released Friday shows a fall in the Gini coefficient, a commonly used measure of inequality, for both rural and urban spending between 2011-12 and 2022-23 …

PM Modi's data on poverty eradication has no international recognition: Shashi Tharoor
10 months ago

PM Modi's data on poverty eradication has no international recognition: Shashi Tharoor

Hindustan Times  

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday took a jibe at PM Narendra Modi claiming that no data given by the Prime Minister has received international recognition. Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha Election 2024, PM Modi in his campaign rallies, has been claiming that his government lifted 25 crore Indians out of poverty. What NITI Aayog report on poverty alleviation …

Poverty and inequality debate resurfaces in election season
11 months ago

Poverty and inequality debate resurfaces in election season

Hindustan Times  

As Indians heads to the poll this season, a new chapter is being written in a very old debate about poverty and inequality in India. This debate has been stirred up by the release of new data from a government- The economist Maitreesh Ghatak spoke about the resurgent debate over poverty and inequality on last week’s episode of Grand Tamasha, …

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?
1 year ago

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?

The Hindu  

Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average consumption expenditure in the bottom 5% of India’s population, as estimated by the survey, is about the same as the poverty line in India, suggesting that the poverty rate in India is somewhere in the range of 0 to …

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?
1 year ago

Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India?

The Hindu  

Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average consumption expenditure in the bottom 5% of India’s population, as estimated by the survey, is about the same as the poverty line in India, suggesting that the poverty rate in India is somewhere in the range of 0 to …

India has now officially eliminated 'extreme poverty', American think tank Brookings said in a report
1 year ago

India has now officially eliminated 'extreme poverty', American think tank Brookings said in a report

Op India  

India has now officially eliminated ‘extreme poverty’, which can be seen through the sharp decline in headcount poverty ratio and stark increase in household consumption, American think tank Brookings said in a report. According to Brookings, high growth and large decline in inequality have combined to eliminate poverty in India for the Purchasing Power Parity USD 1.9 poverty line. The …

Terms of Trade | Will HCES findings change politics in India?
1 year, 1 month ago

Terms of Trade | Will HCES findings change politics in India?

Hindustan Times  

When the government publishes the data for the 2022-23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, India will see a big debate on consumption levels, inequality and poverty. From the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the National Food Security Act under the United Progressive Alliance era to the Narendra Modi government significantly expanding the scope of asset transfer programmes such as …

Opinion: Why India badly needs a new data architecture
1 year, 1 month ago

Opinion: Why India badly needs a new data architecture

India Today  

The authors had a chat soon after the MOSPI released data on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office. There is a World Bank estimate that says the poverty ratio is about 10 per cent, which means about 140 million plus Indians live in poverty. If poverty levels are indeed below 5 per cent as …

Consumption survey report inspired by polls: Congress
1 year, 1 month ago

Consumption survey report inspired by polls: Congress

The Hindu  

The Congress on Tuesday described the Household Consumption Expenditure report of the National Sample Survey Office as “election-inspired survey” and questioned the different estimates of poverty given by different agencies in the past one year. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, in a post on X, accused the Modi government of coming out with “an election inspired survey after asleep at the …

Decoding consumption: On the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey
1 year, 1 month ago

Decoding consumption: On the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey

The Hindu  

In an uncharacteristic late Saturday release, the Statistics Ministry unveiled the broad findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey done between August 2022 and July 2023. This is significant as it is the first major survey-based data released since 2011-12 that captures ground realities at the household level — especially with the once-a-decade Census, due since 2021, nowhere in sight. …

SBI Research backs NSSO report, credits Modi govt for decline in India's consumption inequality
1 year, 1 month ago

SBI Research backs NSSO report, credits Modi govt for decline in India's consumption inequality

Op India  

On Tuesday, a research report published by the State Bank of India corroborated the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, which was conducted by the National Sample Survey Office. Decadal changes in MPCE show decline in consumption inequality, graphic via SBI Research “Rural Poverty has thus staged a significant 440-basis point decline since 2018-19 and Urban Poverty a 170-basis …

Poverty levels below 5%, claims NITI Aayog chief
1 year, 1 month ago

Poverty levels below 5%, claims NITI Aayog chief

The Hindu  

Less than 5% of Indians are now expected to be below the poverty line, and extreme destitution has almost gone away, a top government official asserted on February 25, citing the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey for 2022-23. Subrahmanyam, the chief executive officer of the Centre’s think tank Niti Aayog, averred that growth is “broad-based” with rural Indians’ …

Multidimensional poverty in India: decoding the Niti Aayog report | In Focus podcast
1 year, 2 months ago

Multidimensional poverty in India: decoding the Niti Aayog report | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

A new paper released by the NITI Aayog has claimed that multidimensional poverty has declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23, and that 24.82 crore people “escaped” from multidimensional poverty during this 9-year period. Titled ‘Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06: A Discussion Paper’, the NITI Aayog report claims that India is well on track to achieve the …

Multidimensional poverty: Can we eliminate it within a decade?
1 year, 2 months ago

Multidimensional poverty: Can we eliminate it within a decade?

Live Mint  

Going by Niti Aayog’s latest assessment, India has made substantial gains in its fight against deprivation. The Niti Aayog’s index has a formula that echoes what the United Nations Development Programme uses for multidimensional poverty, with parameters that differ slightly. Since the central think-tank’s 12 counts include several that targeted programmes can move the needle on—like nutrition, child mortality, sanitation, …

What poverty numbers reveal
1 year, 2 months ago

What poverty numbers reveal

Hindustan Times  

India has pulled 248 million out of multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23, according to a discussion paper released by the NITI Aayog on Monday. PREMIUM Elections aside, what is the real import of the multidimensional poverty numbers? Because multidimensional poverty numbers are not based on measuring consumption expenditure and, therefore, on whether or not a person is above the …

Over 24.8 crore people moved out of poverty in India in nine years: NITI report
1 year, 2 months ago

Over 24.8 crore people moved out of poverty in India in nine years: NITI report

The Hindu  

As many as 24.82 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in nine years to 2022-23, with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh registering the largest decline, Niti Aayog said in a report on January 15. According to the NITI discussion paper, multidimensional poverty in India declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23, with about 24.82 crore people …

Multidimensional Poverty Index reduction under the NDA is flawed
1 year, 3 months ago

Multidimensional Poverty Index reduction under the NDA is flawed

The Hindu  

Samuel Johnson, a profound literary critic and essayist, wrote, “Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.” In sharp contrast, conventional measures of poverty in terms of income are limited and narrowly focused on scarcity of resources to eke out a bare subsistence. The MPI story …

Bihar caste survey decoded: Data reveals alarming poverty, job challenges
1 year, 4 months ago

Bihar caste survey decoded: Data reveals alarming poverty, job challenges

Live Mint  

The caste survey report in Bihar, which was tabled in the Assembly by Parliamentary Affairs Department Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday, has revealed alarming data on the jobs and poverty challenges in the state. According to the Bihar caste survey, 34.1 per cent of Bihar’s households are poor and only 1.57 per cent which is 2,049,370 of the state’s …

Consumption-based poverty estimates have relevance
1 year, 7 months ago

Consumption-based poverty estimates have relevance

The Hindu  

A recent report by NITI Aayog on multidimensional poverty shows that the percentage of the poor has gone down from 25% in 2015-16 to 15% in 2019-21 and around 135 million people were lifted out of poverty during this period. The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report of 2023 of the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty & Human …

When good economics means pretty bad politics
1 year, 7 months ago

When good economics means pretty bad politics

New Indian Express  

Following this, Niti Aayog brought out a progress report on multidimensional poverty. To quote from this, “The MPI estimates highlight a near-halving of India’s national MPI value and decline in the proportion of population in multidimensional poverty from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015–16 and 2019–21.” Let’s skip the details of MDPI methodology, since that’s not relevant for now. To quote …

The week in 5 charts | Manipur unrest, INDIA alliance, Alcaraz wins Wimbledon, and more
1 year, 8 months ago

The week in 5 charts | Manipur unrest, INDIA alliance, Alcaraz wins Wimbledon, and more

The Hindu  

Unrest in Manipur continues More than two months after three women were stripped and paraded by a mob in violence-hit Manipur, police arrested four accused in a case of gang rape and abduction, one of whom was seen in a viral video clip of the incident which surfaced online on Wednesday. 26 Opposition parties form INDIA alliance The leaders of …

Govt’s claim on poverty reduction based on multidimensional poverty index questionable: Parakala Prabhakar
1 year, 8 months ago

Govt’s claim on poverty reduction based on multidimensional poverty index questionable: Parakala Prabhakar

The Hindu  

The Union government’s claim that the number of people living in poverty has significantly reduced in recent years based on multidimensional poverty index is highly questionable, political economist Parakala Prabhakar said here on Saturday. During an interaction with N. Ram, Director, THG Publishing Private Ltd., organised by the Dravidian Professionals Forum, on his new book — The Crooked Timber of …

India’s triumphs over poverty marred by an alarming hunger crisis as over 70 per cent of Indians fails to afford healthy food
1 year, 8 months ago

India’s triumphs over poverty marred by an alarming hunger crisis as over 70 per cent of Indians fails to afford healthy food

The Hindu  

Published : Jul 21, 2023 12:38 IST - 3 MINS READ Government think-tank NITI Aayog’s recent report, released on July 17, revealed a remarkable achievement in India’s fight against multidimensional poverty. However, despite these positive strides in economic development, a consortium of esteemed organisations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, …

Average household spending rose 3.5% from August 2023 to July 2024, shows govt. survey
1 year, 8 months ago

Average household spending rose 3.5% from August 2023 to July 2024, shows govt. survey

The Hindu  

India’s average household consumption spending on a per capita basis rose about 3.5% in real terms through August 2023 to July 2024 from a year ago, as per the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, and the Centre asserted this signals a decline in consumption inequality as well as a narrowing gap between urban and rural spends. In real terms, the average …

Niti Aayog report claims decrease in multidimensional poverty
1 year, 8 months ago

Niti Aayog report claims decrease in multidimensional poverty

The Hindu  

India has registered a significant decline of 9.89 percentage points in the number of multidimensionally poor, from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-2021, according to the ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’. It claims that about 13.5 crore people came out of multidimensional poverty during the period, assessed by identifying “acute deprivations in health, education and standard …

13.5 crore Indians move out of multidimensional poverty in five years: Niti Aayog report
1 year, 8 months ago

13.5 crore Indians move out of multidimensional poverty in five years: Niti Aayog report

The Hindu  

India witnessed 13.5 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21 with fastest reduction in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, a Niti Aayog report said on Monday. The report — 'National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A progress of Review 2023' — was released by Suman Bery, Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog. Providing multidimensional poverty estimates for the …

415 mn Indians no longer poor, says UN
1 year, 8 months ago

415 mn Indians no longer poor, says UN

Live Mint  

As many as 415 million Indians moved out of poverty in the 15-year period between 2005/2006 and 2019/2021, the UN said in a report on Tuesday. “Countries halved their MPI in periods as short as four to 12 years, demonstrating the feasibility of the Sustainable Development Goal target of halving poverty according to national definitions within 15 years,” it added. …

India registers remarkable reduction in poverty: UN
1 year, 8 months ago

India registers remarkable reduction in poverty: UN

Deccan Chronicle  

United Nations: A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the UN said on Tuesday, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world's most populous nation. "Notably, India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years," the report …

415 million Indians came out of multidimensional poverty in 15 years, says UNDP study
1 year, 8 months ago

415 million Indians came out of multidimensional poverty in 15 years, says UNDP study

The Hindu  

A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the United Nations said on July 11, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world's most populous nation. "Notably, India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years," the report …

UN praises 'remarkable' India as 415 million exit poverty levels in 15 years
1 year, 8 months ago

UN praises 'remarkable' India as 415 million exit poverty levels in 15 years

Hindustan Times  

A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the UN said on Tuesday, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world's most populous nation. In India, 415 million poor people moved out of poverty from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, with incidence falling from 55.1 per cent in 2005/2006 to 16.4 …

Shelved 2017-18 consumption spending survey showed inequality widening in Maharashtra
1 year, 8 months ago

Shelved 2017-18 consumption spending survey showed inequality widening in Maharashtra

The Hindu  

For urban households in Maharashtra, food costs crossed 40% of monthly spends in 2017-18, for the first time in 18 years, while the food bill for their rural counterparts shot up to almost 49% of total spending, with that figure crossing 60% for the poorest 5% of households., data from the National Statistical Office’s 2017-18 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey or …

The simmering debate over poverty rate
1 year, 10 months ago

The simmering debate over poverty rate

Live Mint  

London/Boston: As the 2024 elections approach, taking stock of the economy after a decade-long rule of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi becomes a natural talking point. View Full Image Graphic: Mint According to the World Bank’s earlier $1.90 PPP per day line that defines extreme poverty, 23% of India’s population was poor in 2011-12, the last estimate …

Opposition questions delay in survey to assess poverty
1 year, 11 months ago

Opposition questions delay in survey to assess poverty

The Hindu  

Minister of State for Ministry of Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said in Rajya Sabha on April 3 that the last time the Centre made an estimate of the poverty line and poverty ratio was in 2013, based on the Large Sample Surveys on Household Consumer Expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Office in 2011-12. The Opposition questioned this …

When asked for data on poverty reduction, Government of India gives 10 year old data
2 years ago

When asked for data on poverty reduction, Government of India gives 10 year old data

The Hindu  

The Union government seemed to have acknowledged that it had no data to assess whether the poverty levels in the country had reduced in recent years, a reply provided in the Rajya Sabha on Monday for a question raised by two DMK Rajya Sabha MPs showed. Rajeshkumar had asked whether large number of people were living below poverty line in …

Claims of spike in poverty in India during COVID-19 patently false, says paper co-authored by Arvind Panagariya
2 years ago

Claims of spike in poverty in India during COVID-19 patently false, says paper co-authored by Arvind Panagariya

The Hindu  

Claims of a spike in poverty and inequality in India during the COVID-19 pandemic are patently false as such claims are based on uncomparable different surveys, according to a paper co-authored by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya. Mr. Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Vishal More of Intelink Advisors, New Delhi have co-authored a detailed paper …

We’ve made significant progress on poverty reduction
2 years, 5 months ago

We’ve made significant progress on poverty reduction

Live Mint  

Some great news and some not so good news. Titled Unpacking Deprivation Bundles to Reduce Multidimensional Poverty, the report is based on robust household survey data from 111 underlying developing countries and covers 6.1 billion people. As India’s population has quadrupled in the 75 years since Independence, India’s progress on poverty reduction has been steady, particularly in the last 30 …

Let us not lose sight of India’s hunger problem
2 years, 5 months ago

Let us not lose sight of India’s hunger problem

Live Mint  

For the second year in a row, India’s government has rejected the Global Hunger Index ranking published by two international organizations: Concern Worldwide, an aid agency, and Welthun-gerhilfe, a non-profit entity, based, respectively, in Ireland and Germany. Rather than only depend on consumption surveys to estimate calorie intake, and thus hunger, the surveys started asking the question, “Did you get …

How Many Indians are Poor If Even Govt Admits that 800 Million Need Dry Rations?
2 years, 7 months ago

How Many Indians are Poor If Even Govt Admits that 800 Million Need Dry Rations?

The Quint  

2022 marks an important decadal anniversary. It is exactly a decade to when the Rangarajan Committee was set up to come up with fresh parameters for India’s poverty line. For a democracy like India, with alleviation of poverty a primary business of the State and this government’s rhetoric of being ‘anti-elite’, it is puzzling why it has not thought it …

Inflation impact on India’s poor negligible, says FM citing UNDP report
2 years, 8 months ago

Inflation impact on India’s poor negligible, says FM citing UNDP report

The Hindu  

The impact of inflation on India’s poor would be negligible as per a United Nations Development Programme report on ‘Addressing the Cost of Living Crisis in Developing Countries’, which also looked at the ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war such as energy and food market disruptions. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cited the UNDP’s conclusions in the report to emphasise that …

Poverty in India: Decline over the decade
2 years, 9 months ago

Poverty in India: Decline over the decade

Live Mint  

Poverty is a much-debated issue. That poverty line is typically defined as a minimum basket of goods and services required for subsistence, converted into a nominal consumption expenditure figure, using appropriate prices. In other words, one uses monthly per capita consumption expenditure to define poverty line. If growth enabled those just below the poverty line to move above, it is …

A poverty trend in search of an explanation
2 years, 9 months ago

A poverty trend in search of an explanation

The Hindu  

A noticeable absence in the blitzkrieg of information on the economy periodically unleashed by the Union government over the past few years has been estimates of poverty. While the level of poverty estimated by these two studies varies considerably, with the one by Roy and van der Weide showing twice the poverty level estimated by Bhalla et al., they share …

India eradicates ‘extreme poverty’ via PMGKY: IMF paper
2 years, 11 months ago

India eradicates ‘extreme poverty’ via PMGKY: IMF paper

The Hindu  

A new IMF paper released on Tuesday, titled ‘Pandemic, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from India’ says that ‘extreme poverty was maintained below 1% in 2020 due to Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. Dismissing the NSS 2017-18 consumer expenditure survey as 'ill-fated', this paper claims food subsidies have reduced poverty on a consistent basis since the enactment of the Food …

Ending extreme poverty in India
2 years, 11 months ago

Ending extreme poverty in India

Hindustan Times  

Two recent working papers, one by economists Sutirtha Sinha Roy and Roy van der Weide, at the World Bank, and another co-authored by Surjit Bhalla, an executive director at the IMF along with Arvind Virmani and Karan Bhasin have given alternative estimates for poverty in India for the period after 2011. Bhalla and his co-authors argue that extreme poverty has …

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