1. Planning Commission’s Poverty Line (1962)
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- The Planning Commission of India introduced the concept of a poverty line in 1962.
- It separated poverty lines for rural and urban areas (₹20 and ₹25 per capita per month respectively in terms of 1960-61 prices) without any regional variation.
- The poverty line excluded expenditure on health and education, both of which, it was assumed to be provided by the State.
2. Rath and Dandekar Committee (1971)
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- It fixed 2250 calories intake as the desired minimum level of nutrition per capita per day.
- Converting those consumption in monetary terms as consumption expenditure.
3. First Expert Group (1979)
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- This group was headed by Y. K. Alagh.
- Poverty line was based on the per capita consumption expenditure level to meet the average per capita daily calorie requirement of 2400 kcal per capita per day in rural areas and 2100 kcal per capita per day in urban areas.
4. Lakdawala Committee (1993)
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- It recommended a new poverty line based on a “composite consumption basket” that included both food and non-food items.
- It recommended that consumption expenditure should be calculated based on calorie consumption as earlier.
- It recommended a state-specific poverty line.
5. Tendulkar Committee (2009)
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- The national poverty line for 2011-12 was estimated at Rs. 816 per capita per month for rural areas and Rs. 1,000 per capita per month for urban areas.
- It converted the poverty line from URP to MRP.
- It used a uniform basket for both rural and urban areas.
- This committee’s methodology attracted criticism for setting the poverty line at a relatively low threshold.
6. Rangarajan Committee (2014)
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- Instead of per capita, it used monthly family expenditure as the criteria.
- It used MMRP based data collection.
- Separate basket for rural and urban areas
However, After NITI Aayog was established in 2015, the poverty estimation has shifted towards Multidimensional Poverty.
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