Planning Commission’s Poverty Estimates – Fraud on the Poor
Resolution
Adopted at the 20th Congress of the CPI(M), Kozhikode, April 4-9, 2012
Planning Commission’s Poverty Estimates – Fraud on the Poor
The 20th Congress of CPI (M) considers the recent manipulations of the Planning Commission of the poverty estimates are deliberate efforts to underestimate the level of poverty in the country. It has chosen Rs. 22.40 per day for an adult in rural areas and Rs. 28.65 per day for an adult in urban areas, in 2009-10 as the poverty line. Anyone spending more than that is being categorized as non-poor. These are extraordinarily low amounts and no Indian can fulfill even a part of his/her basic daily requirements with these amounts. Rather than poverty lines, they should be called destitute lines.