Whats poor in India

An urban Indian spending a penny more than Rs 578 a month – roughly Rs 20 a day – on all his basic needs cannot be termed poor and would not receive social benefits and subsidies the Planning Commission has said that a city dweller cannot be termed poor if his average monthly spends exceed Rs 31 on rent and conveyance, Rs 18 on education, Rs 25 on medicines or Rs 36.5 on vegetables. These were the average monthly expenditure levels per capita across the country it was using to decide the official 'poverty line'. The government's eligibility criteria for the rural poor is even more stringent. If a villager spends more than Rs 15 a day he is not poor.

Based on these consumption levels, the commission has declared that only 41.8% of the rural population is poor and a mere 25.7% of the urban Indians need food, shelter and social benefits from the government.

The latest figures are, in fact, an improvement from earlier estimates. Experts said the government has in the past used lower population levels (through old estimates and census data) to keep the number of the 'officially poor' low.

1 GB POUND = 73 RUPEE