Which one of the following statements with regard to poverty is

Which one of the following statements with regard to poverty is correct?

Poverty line is determined by the monetary value of the minimum calorie intake

The existing mechanism for determining poverty line takes into consideration social factors such as illiteracy, ill health etc.

Income and assets are the only factors associated with poverty

The items included in consumption basket are adequate to estimate the poverty line and the number of poor

Answer is Right!

Answer is Wrong!

This question was previously asked in

UPSC Geoscientist – 2021

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Option A is the most accurate statement among the choices regarding the determination of the poverty line, particularly in the context of historical and foundational methodologies used in India. The poverty line has often been linked to the minimum expenditure required to meet basic needs, including a certain minimum calorie intake.

The poverty line in India is primarily determined based on consumption expenditure needed to meet minimum requirements for food (often anchored to calorie norms) and non-food items.

While modern approaches and committees (like Tendulkar and Rangarajan) have refined the consumption basket to include non-food items and considered urban-rural differences, the link between basic needs (including nutritional requirements represented by calorie intake) and the expenditure required to meet them remains a fundamental element in poverty line determination. Option B is incorrect because the official poverty line calculation method in India has historically relied on expenditure/income thresholds, not directly incorporating social factors like illiteracy or ill health into the calculation of the threshold itself, although these are aspects of multi-dimensional poverty. Options C and D are clearly incorrect.

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