The computation of poverty in terms of Monthly Per Capita Consumption

The computation of poverty in terms of Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) based on the Mixed Reference Period was recommended by the

Lakdawala Committee
Tendulkar Committee
Dandekar Committee
Alagh Committee
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CDS-1 – 2023
The computation of poverty in terms of Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) based on the Mixed Reference Period (MRP) was a key recommendation of the Tendulkar Committee (Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty).
– The Tendulkar Committee, constituted in 2005 and submitting its report in 2009, recommended a shift from using calorie norms for defining the poverty line.
– It proposed using MPCE based on the Mixed Reference Period (MRP) as the basis for poverty estimation. MRP refers to the period over which household consumption data is collected for the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) surveys. Specifically, it uses a 365-day reference period for five low-frequency items (clothing, footwear, durables, education, and health) and a 30-day reference period for the remaining items.
– The Lakdawala Committee (Expert Group on Estimation of Proportion and Number of Poor, 1993) relied on consumption expenditure and state-specific price indices for poverty estimation, but not specifically MPCE based on MRP.
– The Dandekar Committee (1971) and Alagh Committee (Task Force on Projections of Minimum Needs and Effective Consumption Demand, 1979) were earlier groups that largely based their poverty line estimations on calorie intake norms.
– The Tendulkar Committee methodology was widely adopted by the Government of India for official poverty estimations for a period.