Question

Which of the following Committees recommended a poverty line based on nutritional requirements exclusively?
1. Lakdawala Committee
2. Rangarajan Committee
3. Alagh Committee
4. Tendulkar Committee

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : Alagh Committee

The correct answer is Alagh Committee.

• Alagh Committee (1979)
  • It was constituted by the Planning Commission under the chairmanship of Y. K. Alagh.
  • It constructed a poverty line for rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional requirements and related consumption expenditure.

• Lakdawala Committee (1993)
  • The Task Force was chaired by D.T. Lakdawala.
  • It recommended that State-specific poverty lines should be constructed and these should be updated using the CPI-IW in urban areas and CPI-AL in rural areas.
  • It also suggested discontinuation of scaling of poverty estimates based on National Accounts Statistics.
• Tendulkar Committee (2009)
  • It was constituted by the Planning Commission and, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar.
  • It based its calculations on the consumption of the items like cereal, pulses, milk, edible oil, non-vegetarian items, vegetables, etc.
  • The Committee recommended a new method of updating poverty lines, adjusting for changes in prices and patterns of consumption, etc.
• Rangarajan Committee(2012)
  • It was set up in the backdrop of national outrage over the Planning Commission’s suggested poverty line of ₹22 a day for rural areas.
  • It recommended that the Poverty line should be based on the Normative level of adequate nutrition and Behavioral determination of non-food expenses.