As per the recent research study about the status of poverty in India, there is a remarkable decline in the number of people living in poverty from 2011 to 2017. The number of people living in poverty in India had come down to 8.4 crores in 2017, as against 27 crores in 2011, the research claims.
As per a report in the New Indian Express, The study claims that as per the Tendulkar poverty line it, poverty in India reduced from 14.9 % in 2011 to 7.0 % in 2017, the fastest decline in poverty the country has ever seen. The research which is part of the joint paper titled ‘Poverty, Inequality and Inclusive Growth in India: 2011/12-2017/18‘ by Surjit S Bhalla, Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Virmani, and the economic researcher Karan Bhasin was presented to the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
Last year the NSSO survey had implied that poverty in India is increased. The NSSO survey suggested that rural poverty rose nearly 4 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2017-18 to 30 percent even as urban poverty fell 5 percentage points over the same period to 9 percent.
The NSSO data had also claimed that while there is a 12% decline in per capita consumption, the national accounts data, in contrast, shows an increase of 5.5%.
The current study has included data from the NSSO survey, night-time lights data and other data points to conclude that between 2011 and 2017, poverty reduction may have been much better than anticipated.
The Authors concluded that the record pace of poverty reduction was due to certain government measures like MGNREGA, Direct Benefit Transfer, PM Kisan Yojana, LPG subsidy and others.
The authors noted that asset transfer such as houses and toilets has played a major role in poverty reduction, “All these estimates reveal that poverty in India was in single digits as per the Tendulkar poverty line and that India experienced one of the fastest paces of poverty reduction between 2011-2017.”
As per the World Bank poverty line report, poverty in India has declined with the fastest rate ever, from 58% in 2011-12 to 37% in 2017-18. The world bank classifieds India as a lower-middle-income country.