PM favours multi-layered approach

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said he favoured a multi-layered approach to assess poverty estimates.

The Prime Minister also said the Socio-Economic Caste Census, being carried out in many parts of the country, would throw up an entirely new set of numbers.

“We need a multi-layered approach to assess poverty estimates. We have set up a group to devise a new method to assess poverty,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

The Planning Commission has been drawing flak after it released its poverty estimates for 2009-10, based on the Tendulkar panel methodology. According to the estimate, the number of people living below the poverty line fell to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05. Singh said the Tendulkar committee report was not all-inclusive.