Below Poverty Line

Below Poverty Line is a benchmark used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid. It is determined using various parameters which vary from state to state and within states. The present criteria are based on a survey conducted in 2002. Going into a survey due for a decade, India's central government is undecided on criteria to identify families below poverty line.^[1]

Internationally, an income of less than ₹150 per day per head of purchasing power parity is defined as extreme poverty. By this estimate, about 12.4% of Indians are extremely poor. Income-based poverty lines consider the bare minimum income to provide basic food requirements; it does not account for other essentials such as health care and education.^[2]

As there is no update of population estimate by the government since 2011, the data on poor people in India is not available. Estimates vary from 34 million to 373 million.^[3]