Hyderabad: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday took a dig at MPs who criticised the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar Committee for redefining the term poor, saying members raising the issue were probably only aware of Sachin Tendulkar, not Suresh Tendulkar.
"Those Members of Parliament may probably have thought it is Sachin Tendulkar. They did not know Suresh Tendulkar," Ramesh told reporters when asked several MPs have criticised the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar Committe set up in the year 2005 by the Planning Commission to suggest criteria for determining poverty line and poverty estimation.
As per the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar Committee for estimation of poverty, besides calorie intake, the spending on health and education is also factored in.
Coming to the rescue of Planning Commission's deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was the target of attack both inside and outside Parliament after the panel put out the poverty numbers, Ramesh claimed the rate of poverty reduction after 2004 has been double the rate of poverty reduction in previous 10 years.
As per the commission's estimates, the poverty ratio has been pegged at 29.8 per cent in 2009-10, down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.
These are based on the daily per-capita consumption of Rs 28.65 in cities and Rs 22.42 in rural areas in 2009.
Updating this formula by linking it to consumer price index for 2011, the Planning Commission arrived at the estimate that people spending more than Rs 32 a day in urban areas and Rs 26 a day in villages will not be eligible for the benefits of schemes meant for the BPL.
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