'Over 27% were living below poverty line in 04-05'

Over 27 per cent of the population in the country were living below poverty line during 2004-05, government said today.

"The latest poverty estimates released for 2004-05 indicate that 27.5 per cent people were living below poverty line", Minister of State for Planning V Naranasamy told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

He said, "The Suresh D Tendulkar Committee has submitted its reports on poverty on December 8." However, he did not divulge any of its findings.

The minister added, "The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised survey indicate that 77 per cent of the population were living with a per capita consumption of up to Rs 20 per day."

"However, the Economic Survey 2008-09 based upon the calculation of household consumption indicated that per capita consumption expenditure of 60.5 per cent of population was less than Rs 20 per day" he said.