Journal Press India^®

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The origin of poverty in India lies in the historical origin of the country itself. However, defining poverty to entail its measurement and removal is of recent origins – the first attempt being made in late nineteenth century. With the passage of time, better understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty occurred. In this paper, the authors attempt to track the evolution of the definition of poverty in India. These include the official changes that have taken place from time to time as well as some independent suggestions made by eminent researchers of the field which have received critical acclaim within the think-tank of poverty researchers. The definition of poverty or poverty line has been trailed chronologically beginning in the British era in pre-Independent India to the latest on poverty line officially. The exploration by the authors reveals that in India poverty had been traditionally looked at as insufficiency to attain subsistence and all the attempts at poverty line definitions were anchored to the Food Energy Intake method. More recently, the recommendations by the Tendulkar Committee and Rangarajan Expert Group include a shift away from the calorie norms to the cost of basic needs method which looks at basic requirements of food and non-food items. Along with the recommendation of various expert groups that defined poverty line (official) for India, the contentions raised by fraternity are also discussed.

Keywords

Poverty, Poverty line, Planning Commission

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