Poverty in India: Country's Rural Population Lives on Less Than Rs 35 a Day

Poverty is a stark realty in India. There are more poor people here than in the 20 poorest African countries. More Indians have an access to mobile phones than toilets. Hunger and malnutrition persist. Figures about the extent of poverty released occasionally do spark debates and political point-scoring for a day or two but are then forgotten. They do expose, however, even if for a short while the ugly side of India’s much-touted growth story. By and large, what is wrong and what needs to be done are known.

Keeping the aforementioned points in view, the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) has recently carried out the 66th round of National Sample Survey (NSS). The report states that around 60 per cent of India's rural population lives on less than Rs 35 a day and nearly as many in cities live on Rs 66 a day, reveals a government survey on income and expenditure.

The statistics pertaining to income and expenditures of the citizens presented by the NSSO has revealed that food accounted for about 57 per cent of the value of the average rural Indian household consumption during 2009-10 whereas it was 44 per cent in cities. And this, when 60 per cent of India’s rural population lives on less than Rs 35 a day and an identical percentage in several cities lives on Rs 66 per day.

If the average monthly per capita consumption of cereals was 11.3 kg in rural areas and 9.4 kg in cities, then the survey also pointed out that 10 per cent of the population at the lowest rung in rural areas lives on Rs 15 a day and on Rs 20 per day in urban areas.

In terms of average per capita daily expenditure, it comes out to be about Rs 35 in rural and Rs 66 in urban India. Approximately 60 per cent of the population lives with these expenditures or less in rural and urban areas.

July 2009–June 2010 Situation

According to NSS carried out between July 2009 and June 2010, all India average monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) in rural areas was Rs 1,054 and urban areas Rs 1,984. The survey also pointed out that 10 per cent of the population at the lowest rung in rural areas lives on Rs 15 a day, while in urban areas the figure is only a shade better at Rs 20 day.

The report states that the poorest 10 per cent of India's rural population had an average MPCE of Rs 453. The poorest 10 per cent of the urban population had an average MPCE of Rs 599.

The NSSO survey also revealed that average MPCE in rural areas was lowest in Bihar and Chhattisgarh at around Rs 780 followed by Orissa and Jharkhand at Rs 820.

States’ Condition

Among other states, Kerala has the highest rural MPCE at 1,835 followed by Punjab and Haryana at Rs 1,649 and Rs 1,510 respectively. The highest urban MCPE was in Maharashtra at Rs 2,437 followed by Kerala at Rs 2,413 and Haryana at Rs 2,321. It was lowest in Bihar at Rs 1,238. The median level of MCPE was Rs 895 in rural and Rs 1,502 in urban India, indicating consumption level of majority of population.

According to the study, food was estimated to account about 57 per cent of the value of the average rural Indian household consumption during 2009-10 whereas it was 44 per cent in cities.

Planning Commission’s Estimates

Based on NSSO estimates, the Planning Commission had pegged that poverty line at Rs 28.65 and Rs 22.42 daily consumption in urban and rural areas respectively in 2009-10. As per the Commission’s estimates the number of persons living below poverty line was 35.46 crore in 2009-10, as compared to 40.72 crore in 2004-05.