Poverty Reduction Goals

• 12 Apr 2025

Why in discussion? 

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has announced a plan to eradicate poverty in the state within three years. He stressed on providing housing, water and employment opportunities to all. 

Key Points 

• About Poverty: 
  • Poverty is a condition or state in which an individual or community lacks the financial resources and goods necessary for a minimum standard of living . Poverty means that the level of income from employment is so low that basic human needs cannot be met. 
  • According to the World Bank, poverty means a lack of well-being and involves many dimensions. It includes low income and the inability to obtain the basic goods and services needed to live with dignity.  
    • Poverty also includes low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and inadequate capacity and opportunity to improve one's life. 
  • In 2018, about 8% of the world's workers and their families lived on less than USD 1.90 per person per day (the international poverty line) . 
• Types of Poverty:  
  • Absolute poverty: a situation in which household income is below the level necessary to maintain basic living standards (food, shelter, housing). This situation makes it possible to make comparisons between different countries and over time. 
    • First introduced in 1990, the "one dollar a day" poverty line measured absolute poverty by the standards of the world's poorest countries. In October 2015, the World Bank set it at $1.90 a day. 
  • Relative poverty: It is defined from a social perspective, i.e. the standard of living compared to the economic standards of the surrounding population. It is therefore a measure of income inequality. 
  • Relative poverty is usually measured as the percentage of the population whose income is below a certain ratio of the average income. 
• Estimation of poverty in India 
  • Poverty in India is estimated by the NITI Aayog Task Force through the calculation of the poverty line based on data collected by the National Sample Survey Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). 
  • The Alagh Committee (1979) determined the poverty line based on the minimum daily requirement of 2400 and 2100 calories for an adult in rural and urban areas respectively. 
  • Subsequently, various committees; Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009), Rangarajan Committee (2012) estimated poverty. 
  • According to the Rangarajan Committee report (2014), the poverty line is estimated as per capita monthly expenditure of Rs 1,407 in urban areas and Rs 972 in rural areas.