C Rangarajan to chair 5-member expert panel for reviewing poverty line

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission has constituted a 5-member expert panel to review the methodology being adapted to assess poverty in the country.

The committee will be headed by Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan.

The formation of the committee had been pitched by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia citing the need to have a multi-dimensional approach to measure poverty.

On the basis of the recommendations of the proposed panel, poverty would be measured against the new bench-mark from the 12th five-year plan onwards.

As per the Planning Commission, poverty ratio, based on the Tendulkar committee formula, has dropped to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10, from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.

In urban areas, the plan panel had set the poverty line at Rs 4,500 per month per family (of five) and Rs 3,900 per month per family in rural areas.