Call it a “rude joke” on the poor of the country or a political gimmick, the Planning Commission has come up with sensational statistics that poverty in India has declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 in 2004-05. The data aimed at drawing a sharp comparison between the NDA and UPA regimes and make people believe that they are no longer poor.
“The percentage of persons below poverty line in 2011-12 has been estimated at 25.7 per cent in rural areas, 13.7 per cent in urban areas and 21.9 per cent for the country as a whole, said the Planning Commission. According to them, around 26.93 crore people were found below poverty line in 2011-12 as compared to 40.71 crore in 2004-05.
The poverty ratio was highest in Chhattisgarh at 39.93 per cent followed by Jharkhand (36.96%), Manipur (36.89%), Arunachal Pradesh (34.67%) and Bihar (33.47%). The states, which have least poverty ratio, included Goa (5.09%), Kerala (7.05%), Himachal Pradesh (8.06%), Sikkim (8.19%), Punjab (8.26%) and Andhra Pradesh (9.20%).
Odisha and Bihar, which are considered as the poorest states in India, have registered the sharpest decline in poverty levels between 2004-05 and 2011-12 even though the proportion of the poor in these states remains above the national average. In Odisha, the poverty ratio has gone down to 32.6% in 2011-12 from 57.2% in 2004-05. In Bihar, the BPL population was estimated at 33.7% in 2011-12, as compared to 54.4% in 2004-05.