Tendulkar Committee and Rangarajan Committee for Poverty estimation

National Affairs

Tendulkar Committee and Rangarajan Committee for Poverty estimation

19 Jul 2023 Zinkpot 160

The Tendulkar Committee (2005-09) was established under the leadership of Suresh Tendulkar to evaluate property measurement methodology and solve the limitations of prior methodologies.
This committee advocated a shift away from calculating poverty based on calorie consumption to the consumption expenditure-based approach.
Unlike the Alagh Committee (1977), the Tendulkar Committee used the uniform poverty line basket to calculate new poverty lines for rural and urban areas of each state.
The new method for updating poverty lines introduced in this committee was accounting for changes in prices and consumption patterns and using the consumption basket of people living near the poverty line.
Under this committee, private expenditure on health and education is considered while calculating poverty.
In 2011-12, the National Poverty Line by using the Tendulkar methodology was estimated at Rs.816 per capita per month in villages, and Rs.1000 per capita per month in cities.
The committee used the data from National sample survey organization (NSSO) conducted during 2004-05 to calculate poverty estimates.
Due to widespread criticism of the Tendulkar Committee approach, as well as due to changing times and aspirations of the people of India, Rangarajan Committee was set up in 2013, headed by the former RBI governor, C Rangarajan.
It reverted to the practice of having separate all-India rural and urban poverty line baskets and deriving state-level rural and urban estimates from these.
It recommended separate consumption baskets for rural and urban areas, which include food items that ensure recommended calorie, protein, and fat intake and non-food items like clothing, education, health, housing, and transport.
Monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs.972 in rural areas and Rs.1407 in urban areas was recommended as the poverty line at the all-India level.
The committee utilized the data from National Sample Survey conducted during 2011-12 to derive its poverty estimates.