Poverty, Inequality & Unemployment

📊 High-Yield Data & Statistical Fact Sheet

Poverty Estimation Authority	- Estimates are officially compiled and published by the NSO (National Statistical Office) under MoSPI.
Extreme Poverty Level	- Extreme poverty (living below $1.90 PPP per day) declined to below 1.0% in India, driven by PM-GKAY.
PLFS Overall LFPR (2024)	- 59.6% overall Labour Force Participation Rate.
PLFS Female LFPR	- Rose to 41.7% under 2024 annual report.
PLFS Employed Population	- 64.33 crore (643.3 million) people actively employed.
PLFS Unemployment Rate	- ~3.2% under Usual Status (ps+ss) framework.
Multidimensional Poverty Index (NITI Aayog)	- Headcount poverty ratio plunged from 29.17% (2013-14) to 11.28% in 2024-25, with 13.5 crore people escaping multidimensional poverty.

1. STRUTTING THE DIVERGENT POVERTY METRICS

Absolute Poverty (AP)	- A state of severe deprivation of basic human needs (food, water, sanitation, health, shelter) valued using a Poverty Line.
International Poverty Line	- Set at $2.15 per capita per day (World Bank 2022, 2017 PPP prices).
Head Count Ratio (HCR)	- $$\text{HCR} = \left(\frac{\text{Total population BPL}}{\text{Total Population}}\right) \times 100$$
Poverty Gap Index	- Quantifies average shortfall or distance of the poor from the poverty line (intensity).
Squared Poverty Gap Index	- Squares individual gaps to capture severity of poverty.
Relative Poverty (RP)	- Measures inequality and relative deprivation by comparing individual/group incomes against national median income.

2. METHODOLOGY & COMMITTEE ARCHITECTURE

Alagh Committee (1979)	- Established poverty lines based purely on nutritional intake: 2400 kcal/day (rural) and 2100 kcal/day (urban).
Lakdawala Committee (1993)	- Shifted to state-specific poverty lines using CPI-AL (rural) and CPI-IW (urban).
Tendulkar Committee (2009)	- Moved away from calorie anchors to a broadened consumption basket (integrating private out-of-pocket health and education expenditures).
Rangarajan Committee (2014)	- Recalculated poverty lines using a modified calorie-cum-consumption basket: set at ₹972/month (Rural) and ₹1,407/month (Urban).
URP (Uniform Reference Period)	- 30-day recall period for all items in the consumption basket.
MRP (Mixed Reference Period)	- 365-day recall for 5 durable items + 30-day recall for remaining items.
MMRP (Modified Mixed Reference Period)	- 365-day recall for durables, 7-day recall for high-frequency foods, 30-day recall for remaining items.

3. UNEMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS & PLFS DEFINITIONS

Labour Force	- Sum of all employed and unemployed persons actively seeking work.
Workforce	- Population of individuals actively employed.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)	- $$\text{LFPR} = \left(\frac{\text{Labour Force}}{\text{Total Population}}\right) \times 100$$
Unemployment Rate (UR)	- $$\text{Unemployment Rate (UR)} = \left(\frac{\text{Unemployed}}{\text{Labour Force}}\right) \times 100$$
Usual Principal Status (PS)	- Evaluates status based on a 365-day reference period (requires activity for >183 days).
Subsidiary Status (SS)	- Captures secondary economic activities pursued for at least 30 days.
Usual Status (ps + ss)	- Combines principal and subsidiary status for chronic employment measure.
Current Weekly Status (CWS)	- Short 7-day recall period (employed if worked for at least 1 hour on any single day).
Universal Basic Income (UBI)	- Structured on three core pillars: Universality (covers all citizens), Unconditionality (no targeted behaviors), and Agency (direct cash transfers instead of in-kind doles).
MGNREGA Safety Net	- Deploys a legal right to 100 days of guaranteed wage employment per rural household. At least 1/3rd of beneficiaries must be women.