📈 EconomyUPSC 1999Fundamentals of Economy

Persons below the poverty line in India are classified as such based on whether:

athey are entitled to a minimum prescribed food basket
bthey get work for a prescribed minimum number of days in a year
cthey belong to agricultural labourer household and the scheduled caste/tribe social group
dtheir daily wages fall below the prescribed minimum wages
✓ Correct answer: a) they are entitled to a minimum prescribed food basket
ExplanationIn India Persons Below Poverty Line(BPL) is classi- fied based on entitlement of a prescribed food basket mea- sured in calorie and then converted into monetary terms for easy implementation into policies and programmes.The Planning Commission constituted a task force under the chairmanship of YK Alagh in 1979 to construct a poverty line for rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional requirements and related consumption expenditure.The expert group under Suresh Tendulkar in 2009 also followed the calorie approach based on a consumption basket but added health and education along the calorie consumption basket.Another Expert group was constituted in 2014 under C Rangarajan also followed a calorie approach but suggested adding clothing, house rent, conveyance and education, and a behaviorally determined level of other non-food expenses.345

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