New poverty line makes neither common sense nor economic sense: Yechury

A panel headed by Rangarajan sets the poverty line at Rs.32 per day in rural areas and Rs.47 in urban

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the C. Rangarajan Committee report on new poverty lines makes neither common sense nor economic sense.

"They are appalling. This is ridicules figures. This makes neither common sense nor economic sense. Nearly one third of the country is under poverty," Yechury said.

"We will surely raise this issue in the parliament," he added.

A panel headed by former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister C.Rangarajan sets the poverty line at Rs.32 per day in rural areas and Rs.47 in urban areas.

The panel has dismissed the Tendulkar Committee Report on estimating poverty, which had suggested persons spending below Rs.33 per day in urban areas are to be considered poor.

As per the report submitted by Rangarajan to Minister of State, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, it said the poverty stood at 38.2% in 2009-10 and had slid to 29.5%  in 2011-12.

The Rangarajan Committee was set up last year to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and clear the ambiguity over the number of poor in the country.