Poverty in Sikkim drops from 30.9% in 2004 to 13.1% in 2009-10

GANGTOK, 21 March [IPR]: The new poverty official estimates for 2009-2010 released by the Planning Commission, Government of India, on 19 March, reveals that the present State government has been very successful in reducing poverty in the State. Even the National Planning Commission, in a press communiqué issued yesterday, attests to as much by including Sikkim in the list of State where the rate of poverty reduction has been higher than average. Interestingly, the poverty levels in some of the other northeaster states [Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland] has increased in the period covered [from 2004-05 to 2009-10], the data reveals. The poverty estimates have been calculated based on the methodology suggested by the Tendulkar Committee with estimates from NSS 66th round of consumer expenditure based on 2009-10 prices.
In 2004-2005, the poverty level in Sikkim stood at 30.9% with 1,70,000 people living below the poverty line. Due to the intensive poverty alleviation programmes initiated by the State Government, the poverty level has been brought down to 13.1% with only 80,000 people now living below the poverty line.
The poverty level has significantly reduced in both urban and rural areas. In 2004, the level in rural area was 31.8% with 1,50,000 people living Below Poverty Line. The BPL in urban areas was 25.9% with 20,000 people living below the Poverty Line. This level has drastically reduced to 5% in urban areas [with only 10,000 people now living below poverty line] and in rural areas, the level has fallen to 15.5% with the BPL number at 70,000.
The percentage of BPL in Sikkim is half of the National average of 29.8%. The level of 15.5% in rural areas is also half of the national level of 33.8% for the segment. The State urban level of 5% of urban areas is one fourth of the National level of 20.9%. The latest poverty estimates data clearly shows that the State government is well within its goal of declaring Sikkim as poverty free state.
The Tendulkar Committee recommended use of implicit prices derived from quantity and value data collected in household consumer expenditure surveys for computing and  updating the poverty lines. The poverty line is thus defined in terms of per capita consumption expenditure on a monthly basis and can be also converted into a corresponding consumer budget per month.
The national average for the Tendulkar poverty line has been worked out to Rs. 672.8 per month per person for rural India and Rs. 859.6 per month per person for urban areas. For Sikkim, this has been calculated to Rs. 728.9 per person for rural areas and Rs. 1035.2 per person per month for urban Sikkim. For a family of five, the poverty line for Sikkim is thus drawn at Rs. 3644.5 per month in rural Sikkim and Rs. 5,176 for a family of five per month in urban areas.
The Tendulkar poverty line, it may be recalled, has been criticised on the grounds that it is too low, and therefore, under-estimates the scale of the population that needs special assistance. To this, the National Planning Commission has defended that “any poverty line is essentially arbitrary and the Planning Commission has only accepted the line recommended by the Tendulkar Committee”.
“We have also indicated that the line will be revised from time to time based on the recommendations of experts,” the NPC adds in an official press release.
The real purpose of estimating a population below a fixed poverty line is to judge whether progress is being made over time. For this purpose, the poverty line must be the same over time and updated to reflect price changes on the basis of an established methodology. If a higher poverty line is used, the absolute number of people below the line will obviously be larger. However, the results regarding trends in poverty will not be altered, the Planning Commission explains further.