A person, whose daily consumption exceeds Rs 33.33 per day in urban areas and Rs 27.20 in rural areas, would no longer be called poor according to the new poverty line figures.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday announced the new figures, using the contentious Tendulkar methodology that had given similar low figures last year, inviting huge criticism from across the political spectrum and civil society.
The data on poverty reduction, coinciding with two-terms of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Centre, is likely to be used by the UPA Government to highlight its achievement.
“During the 11-year period from 1993-94 to 2004-05, the average decline in the poverty ratio was 0.74 per cent points per year. It accelerated to 2.18 per cent points per year during the 7-year period from 2004-05 to 2011-12. Hence, it can be concluded that the rate of decline in the poverty ratio during the 7-year period was about three times of that experienced in the 11-year period,” the Planning Commission report said.
The state-wise figures of poverty ratio had states like Chhattisgarh at highest 39.93 per cent, followed by Jharkhand (36.96 per cent), Manipur (36.89 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (34.67 per cent) and Bihar (33.47 per cent).
The poverty ratio for other key states are Bihar 33.74 per cent, Gujarat 16.63 per cent, Haryana 11.16 per cent, Jammu & Kashmir 10.35 per cent, Karnataka 20.91 per cent, Kerala 7.05 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 31.65 per cent, Maharashtra 17.35 per cent, Odisha 32.59 per cent, Tamil Nadu 11.28 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 29.43 per cent and West Bengal 19.98 per cent. Goa had the least percentage of people living below poverty line at 5.09 per cent followed by Kerala (7.05 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (8.06 per cent) to name a few states.