Previous Year Question

The Tendulkar Committee estimated that 37.2% of India's population lived below the poverty line in 2004–05. The committee was constituted in December 2005 by the Planning Commission under the chairmanship of economist Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar. It submitted its report in December 2009.

The committee's primary objective was to review the existing methodology of poverty measurement in India and develop a more appropriate basis for determining the Poverty Line.

The Tendulkar Committee based poverty estimation on Household Consumption Expenditure rather than relying exclusively on Calorie Intake. It also gave importance to private expenditure on health and education, along with food, while assessing the adequacy of the poverty line.

Poverty ratios for 2004–05 according to the Tendulkar Committee:

These estimates used a consumption expenditure methodology based on the Mixed Reference Period (MRP). The committee also considered differences in price levels and consumption expenditure while determining rural and urban poverty lines.

According to the earlier Lakdawala Methodology, India's poverty ratio in 2004–05 was 27.5%, whereas the revised poverty ratio for the same year under the Tendulkar Methodology was 37.2%. The difference between the two estimates was primarily due to changes in the methodology used to determine the poverty line.

Later, using the Tendulkar Methodology, the Planning Commission estimated a poverty ratio of 29.8% for 2009–10, with the figures released in March 2012.