Heavy Industries Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP, a key ally of the UPA) leader Praful Patel on Wednesday raised doubts on the Planning Commission's poverty estimates for 2011-12, saying that they are based on “totally wrong” benchmark of per capita daily expenditure of Rs 33.33 for cities and Rs 27.20 for villages and said that his party does not agree with the data.
“The ceiling set by them (Planning Commission) is totally wrong. In today's time the Planning Commission should set a new ceiling keeping in mind inflation and high cost of living. We do not agree with this data,” Patel told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event.
According to the Planning Commission data, persons spending over Rs 33.33 a day in cities and Rs 27.20 in villages are not poor. Based on this, Commission concluded that the poverty ratio in the country declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05.