India is less poor today -- BPL population dips to 26.1 pc

 

the percentage of population below the poverty line (BPL) declining to 26.1 per cent in 1999-2000 from 35.97 per cent in 1993-94.

According to the latest estimates of the Planning Commission, while the percentage of rural BPL population has dropped to 27.09 per cent from 37.27 per cent, in urban India, it fell to 23.62 per cent from 32.36 per cent during the five-year period.

In absolute terms too, the BPL population has dropped by over 19 per cent, to 26.03 crore in 1999-2000, from 32.04 crore in 1993-94. The rural poor stands at 19.32 crore (as against 24.4 crore) while the urban poor stands at 6.71 crore (7.63 crore).

At the State-level, although the percentage of BPL population in Orissa has declined to 47.15 per cent from 48.56 per cent, it has overtaken Bihar to reach the top slot with the highest incidence of poverty.

Bihar, which accounted for the highest percentage of BPL population in 1993-94 at 54.96 per cent, now recorded 42.6 per cent, a sharp drop of over 12.36 percentage points.

The other big States with high incidence of poverty were Madhya Pradesh at 37.43 per cent (as against 42.52 per cent), Assam (36.09 per cent), Uttar Pradesh 31.15 per cent (40.85 per cent) and West Bengal 27.02 per cent (35.66 per cent).

Among the big States with very low level of poverty, Jammu and Kashmir led the pack with the percentage of BPL population at 3.48 per cent (25.17 per cent). Next in line was Punjab 6.16 per cent (11.77 per cent), Himachal Pradesh 7.63 (28.44 per cent), H aryana 8.74 (25.05 per cent) and Kerala 12.72 (25.43 per cent).

Poverty levels in the remaining States were Maharashtra 25.02 per cent (36.86 per cent), Tamil Nadu 21.12 per cent (35.03 per cent), Karnataka 20.04 per cent (33.16 per cent), Andhra Pradesh 15.77 per cent (22.19 per cent), Rajasthan 15.28 per cent (27.4 1 per cent) and Gujarat 14.07 per cent (24.21 per cent).

However, the Planning Commission has cautioned that the poverty ratios over the two time periods (1993-94 and 1999-2000) are not strictly comparable.

The survey methodology has undergone changes over the two surveys in 1993-94 and 1999-2000. It is basically to do with the estimation of monthly per capita consumption expenditure on the basis of responses using different recall periods. This fact needs to be kept in mind in assessing trends.

India is less poor today -- BPL population dips to 26.1 pc