NEW DELHI: Here is a new set of official statistics that can escalate the politically contentious debate on what constitutes the

.

If the average

is taken as the benchmark of what an individual needs to survive, the poverty line would be Rs 66.10 for urban areas and Rs 35.10 for rural regions, while about 65% of the population will be below this cutoff.

The figures, based on the 66th round of the national sample survey for 2009-10 , provide a more realistic marker for estimating both the poverty line and the population below it than the

’s calculation of Rs 28.65 per capita per day for cities and Rs 22.42 for rural areas.

The rural and urban all-India averages for monthly expenditure are Rs 1,054 and Rs 1,984 per person daily, respectively , and if these are projected on the expenditure-population curve, the population below this works out to 64.47% (rural) and 66.70% (urban). Sources said the exercise was carried out as part of a study and is based on NSSO data largely available in the public domain. While the government is revising its parameters, the monthly averages might be a useful means of estimating where to draw the poverty line.

With almost all states showing more than 60% of populations below the monthly expenditure averages , the oft-repeated claim that 70% of India lives on less than $2 a day has a ring of truth in it. As yet there is nothing official about using monthly average expenditure as the poverty line and the government has said its calculations are based on the Tendulkar Committee formula.

The Tendulkar Committee had concluded that based on 2004 statistics, the number of poor was a high 37.2%, instead of the estimated 27.5% and based its findings by factoring in education, health and other amenities. The proposed committee is expected to account for such variables.

After facing criticism in March, when it reduced the urban and rural poverty lines to Rs 28.65 and Rs 22.42 from Rs 32 and Rs 26, the Planning Commission said it will set up a technical committee to go into how to measure poverty. It has also said the Tendulkar methodology will not be linked to benefits for underprivileged sections . Projections based on NSSO data present a disturbing picture as population cut offs for average consumption for almost all states fall between the sixth and seventh deciles, statistics for which are available in its report “Key indicators of household expenditure in India.” Further fine tuned, they deliver a precise percentage of population below the average spends.

The large section of population below the expenditure curve also points to a worrying inequity in incomes , something that should concern planners as the government looks to target benefits for those who need them through initiatives like food security and employment guarantees.

India’s schemes might be off target, or suffering from poor reach while benefits of economic growth are not meeting UPA-II’s policy objectives of “inclusive growth” as it is evident from the data that there is a concentration of buying power in the top 30%-35 % of the population.

The 60-plus % of population below the average monthly spending is clearly not progressing as fast as the segment whose income and expenditure is disproportionately influencing the statistical mean. This might point to the need to examine the nature of employment and be a wake-up call for efforts to improve skills.

Among the states, there is not much to choose between those often stigmatized as “backward” like UP and Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra . Even in the better off states, the percentage of rural populations below the average monthly expenditure line is above 60%. In urban areas, it is a shade under 60% for Gujarat, but almost 70% for Maharashtra.