Poverty estimate: Plan panel split on affidavit in SC

Split in Planning Commission is wide open with members saying the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court related to determining number of poor in India was never discussed in the panel’s internal meeting. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Split in Planning Commission is wide open with members saying the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court related to determining number of poor in India was never discussed in the panel’s internal meeting.

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It had now surfaced that the affidavit was circulated among the members for their comments. But, the adverse view of members such as Abhijit Sen and Mihir Shah were not incorporated in the final affidavit, causing the furore.

“We raised concern that the affidavit fails to address the basic question raised by the Supreme Court,” Sen said and added that the final affidavit did not reflect their concerns.

Sen said the Supreme Court wanted answer on the Planning Commission’s cap on poverty numbers resulting in many poor being left out from the scope of the Central government’s welfare schemes. “The affidavit details the academic exercise which has nothing to do with the Below Poverty Line survey,” he said.

Saumitra Chaudhari, member in-charge of determining poverty figures, said that question was never asked from the plan. “The court wanted to know poverty line looking to the price index of May 2011 and we provided the same for June 2011,” he said, while clarifying that there was no problem with the affidavit.

Chaudhari said the contention of the activists was wrong as expenses calculated are for a family of five and not an individual. It meant that a family of five could sustain oneself for Rs 4,824 in urban areas and Rs 3,905 in rural areas as these expenses does not include expenditure on rent.

Sen said the panel’s poverty line based on expenditure has no bearing on identification of the poor in India as spending is not the basis for identification. Poor are identified on basis of exclusion and inclusion formula based on verifiable elements such as how much land a family has, whether they have a vehicle or not, whether they are income tax payee or not. “The affidavit has created an unnecessary confusion and the commission needs to clarify its view,” he said.

Not just the members were consulted, the panel also failed to adhere to the practice of routing the affidavit through Law ministry for due diligence. It was submitted in the court without the Law ministry’s knowledge government sources said.

But the affidavit had evoked strong reaction from state chief ministers such as Prakash Singh Badal or Punjab and Nitish Kumar of Bihar, who want revision of the poverty line saying it should be based on “realistic” criteria to determine the poor.

“The Planning Commission's assessment is a non-transparent and fraudulent method in which poverty lines were manipulated to suit the interests of new liberal policies of the UPA government,” CPI-M Politburo member Brinda Karat said.

How the poverty numbers are determined