- Defining a poverty line has always been controversial.
- Tendulkar committee’s low thresholds (Rs. 27/33 per day) faced backlash.
- Critics argue that these amounts are too low for a decent standard of living.
- The methods primarily focus on consumption expenditure.
- They may not fully capture multi-dimensional aspects of poverty (deprivations).
- The new NDA government has not accepted Tendulkar or Rangarajan estimates.
- NITI Aayog has been tasked to define a new poverty line.