The poverty line has moved but have basic vulnerabilities eased?

India's battle against deprivation won't end so long as access disparities, relative poverty and regional inequalities persist

- DEEPANSHU MOHAN & ADITI DESAI

According to recent World Bank data, extreme poverty in India fell sharply from 27.1% in 2011-12 to just 5.3% in 2022-23, suggesting that 269 million people have been lifted out of poverty. While this achievement is nominally and statistically significant, the finding prompts a deeper and more structural question related to methodology: Are we counting fewer people as 'poor' in India, or are we failing to capture the full spectrum of vulnerabilities that persist among people in relative poverty which discussions based on 'poverty line' measurement miss in scope and reality?

Historically, poverty measurement in India relied predominantly on income or consumption. This approach universally classifies individuals as poor or non-poor based solely on monetary criteria, offering a limited view of deprivation. In India, the Tendulkar Committee and later the Rangarajan Committee refined these poverty lines to reflect changing consumption patterns, but still focused primarily on income criteria. However, over the last two decades, the conceptualization of poverty, its measurement and assessment have all evolved significantly.

Multidimensional frameworks, including the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), highlight that poverty encompasses deficits in education, health and living standards.

Much of India's recent poverty discourse has centred on updated metrics, including the World Bank's shift from a poverty line of $2.15 to $3 per day and methodological refinements such as the adoption of the 'modified mixed recall period' (MMRP) in consumption surveys. These changes, while noteworthy, underscore a deeper tension between statistical representation and lived deprivation. As critiques argue, estimates that rely on projected data, especially in the absence of post-pandemic ground surveys, risk portraying a linear trajectory of progress that may not fully account for access-based or structural vulnerabilities.