Has poverty reduced in India? Surfers say 'No'

According to the poll results, 89% of the total respondents have replied in 'No' that means they don't think that poverty has actually reduced in the country in the last five years.

The planning commission has released poverty data based on the 66th round of the National Sample Survey (2009-10) on household consumer expenditure survey.

HT Image

According to the new estimate, number of poor in India were 29.8% in 2009-10, down from 37.2% in 2004-05. The data is based on the daily per capita consumption of Rs 28 in urban cities and Rs 22 in rural areas in 2009-10.

The same for June 2011 would be Rs 32.2 for urban areas and Rs 25.3 for rural areas.

On Tuesday, HT.com asked the surfers to respond to the poll question -- Do you believe that poverty in India has actually reduced? -- and received more than 500 responses till 11 pm.

According to the poll results, 89% of the total respondents have replied in 'No' that means they don't think that poverty has actually reduced in the country in the last five years.

Nine per cent of the total respondents have replied in 'Yes' that means they support the report submitted by the plan panel stating the number of poor people in the country have actually gone down.

However, 2% of total respondents were not sure about their answer and they responded with the option - 'Can't say'.

In the report released on Monday, poverty estimates by the Planning Commission showed that 29.8% or 360 million Indians were poor in 2009-10 as compared to 37.2% or 400 million in 2004-05 - the difference being equal to the population of countries such as Spain, Argentina and Canada.

After being accused by the BJP and the CPI(M) for fudging the reports, the planning commission has reportedly admitted of a serious flaw in the National Sample Survey data and national accounts which led to pegging the poverty line at Rs 28 per capita daily consumption in cities.