GS2 · 10 marks · 150 words

"India's poverty lies in the eyes of the beholder." In light of this statement, examine the need for a credible and periodically updated poverty estimation framework in the country.

Answered by 4 toppers · CSE 2025

Syllabus: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

How toppers approached it

From all 4 answers · about 180 words · 50% drew a diagram.

Opening

  • A figure2 of 4
  • No separate opening2 of 4

Body

  • Points and prose2 of 4
  • Points2 of 4

Close

  • A way forward4 of 4

The toppers’ answers

Ujjwal PriyankAIR 10 · CSE 2025 · 119 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening · a figure

The recent World Bank estimation of poverty based on $3/day on PPP was 5.3% in India. Thus, showing a drastic reduction in past decade.

However, poverty has various dimension of deprivation, exclusion and marginalisation: Thus, there is a need for a credible and periodically updated

Poverty estimation in India

Body · points and prose

B) Multidimensional Poverty Index -> ~11.7% poverty based on deprivation of education, health, basic necessity of life (C) OXFAM report -> ~40% wealth with top 1% in INDIA

Thus, there is a need for a credible and periodically updated

Poverty estimation in India

  1. One of the earliest based on Y.K. Alagh Task force on calorie requirement

  2. However, now India follows Tendulkar committee recommendation

  3. Utilisation of Household consumption expenditure survey for measuring urban and rural average household consumption

  4. Utilisation of mixed modified reference period to calculate the level of deprivation and consumption.

Close · a way forward

Thus, an objective assessment based on qualitative as well as quantitative survey study is needed for measuring POVERTY.

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