The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has released a comprehensive report based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) for 2022-23. This report, along with the accompanying unit-level data on household consumption expenditure, offers valuable insights into the nutritional status of India’s population. The analysis utilizes this data to convert consumed food items into their calorific value, enabling a comparison between estimated per capita daily calorie intake and the recommended daily calorie requirement for a healthy life. This analysis tackles two fundamental issues: the definition of ‘poor’ and the measurement of nutritional levels. Traditionally, various government committees, including the Lakdawala, Tendulkar, and Rangarajan Committees, have defined poverty based on a monetary ‘poverty line’ (PL). This PL represents the minimum monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) required to purchase a basket of essential food and non-food items. The Lakdawala Committee linked the PL to calorie norms of 2,400 kcal per capita per day for rural areas and 2,100 kcal per capita per day for urban areas. The Tendulkar Committee, however, did not tie the PL to calorie norms. The Rangarajan Committee’s PL focused on normative levels of nourishment, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and other non-food expenses. This analysis takes a different approach. It first establishes the average daily per capita calorie requirement (PCCR) for a healthy life based on the latest (2020) ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition recommendations for Indians across different age, sex, and activity categories. This PCCR is calculated as a weighted average, factoring in the proportions of individuals in each category based on the 2022-23 Periodic Labour Force Survey. Next, the study categorizes individuals into 20 fractile classes of MPCE, from poorest to richest, each encompassing five percent of the population. For each class, it estimates average per capita per day calorie intake (PCCI) and average MPCE for food and non-food items based on HCES 2022-23 data. From this all-India distribution, the average MPCE on food linked to the normative level of the PCCR is determined. This average per capita expenditure on food can be considered the minimum amount a household needs to spend on food items to maintain a healthy life. By combining this average per capita expenditure on food with the average MPCE on non-food items for the poorest five percent, the study arrives at a total MPCE threshold for adequate nourishment and basic non-food expenditures. This all-India total MPCE threshold is then adjusted for regional price differentials using the general Consumer Price Index, resulting in State/UT-specific MPCE thresholds. The proportion of ‘poor’ or deprived individuals, for the purposes of this analysis, is calculated as the proportion of persons below these total MPCE thresholds. Finally, the overall proportion of ‘poor’ for the country is derived by weighting the State/UT-specific deprived proportions with the respective projected populations as of March 1, 2023, based on the National Commission on Population report from July 2020. While the analysis employs approximations to derive calorie intake figures at the household level, the study reveals significant findings. The estimated PCCR is 2,172 kcal for rural India and 2,135 kcal for urban India. At 2022-23 prices, the all-India threshold total MPCE is ₹2,197 (food: ₹1,569 and non-food: ₹628) for rural India and ₹3,077 (food: ₹2,098 and non-food: ₹979) for urban India. Based on these thresholds, the proportion of ‘poor’ is estimated at 17.1% for rural areas and 14% for urban areas. If the non-food expenditure of the poorest 10% is considered instead of the poorest five percent, the threshold total MPCE increases to ₹2,395 for rural areas and ₹3,416 for urban areas, with the corresponding proportion of deprived rising to 23.2% for rural India and 19.4% for urban India. Concerning nutritional deficiency, the average PCCI of the poorest five percent and the immediately above five percent in rural India is 1,564 kcal and 1,764 kcal, respectively. For urban India, the average PCCI for these groups is estimated to be 1,607 kcal and 1,773 kcal, respectively. These figures fall significantly short of the PCCR, highlighting a concerning level of nutritional deprivation among the poorest segments of the population. This study underscores the importance of targeted interventions to address nutritional deficiency and improve the health outcomes of the most vulnerable populations. The government’s existing welfare programs aimed at poverty alleviation and improved health conditions can be enhanced by incorporating specific nutritional schemes targeted towards the poorest of the poor to ensure adequate nourishment and a healthier life. G.C. Manna, Professor at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, and a senior adviser at the National Council of Applied Economic Research; D. Mukhopadhyay, Former Deputy Director General of the National Sample Survey Office.
India’s Poverty Line: A New Approach to Measuring Nutritional Deprivation
