EPDCL aims to complete underground cabling project by August 2026
Visakhapatnam: The Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) is rapidly progressing with its ambitious underground cabling project, aiming to complete the initiative within the next 15 months.
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The project involves laying underground cables for high-tension (HT) lines, including 33 kV and 11 kV lines, across the entire city. Despite facing delays in the past due to permission issues and government transitions, the second phase of the project is now underway, with work currently ongoing on the outskirts of the city.
EPDCL has already completed around 140 km of the 876 km line within three months, demonstrating significant progress.
Once the project is completed, residents in apartments will receive direct power supply through underground cables, eliminating the need for transformers at individual apartments. Public transformers on streets will, however, continue to be used.
The importance of underground cabling became evident after the devastating super cyclone Hudhud, which prompted the govt to undertake this initiative with the help of World Bank aid.
The first phase of the project, which involved laying around 260 km of underground cables on the beach road area, was successfully completed. The second phase, estimated to cost ₹973.44 crore, will cover the entire city and is expected to minimize damage to power infrastructure during cyclones and natural calamities.
EPDCL CMD Immadi Prudhvi Teja stated that the target is to complete the second phase by March 2026, but the presence of bitumen (BT) roads and cement roads in the city might pose challenges.
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He added that wherever kaccha roads are present, the work will be completed quickly, but digging BT and cement roads will require permissions from concerned authorities, making the process more complex. By August 2026, the city will receive power supply through underground cabling.
The CMD emphasized that the project's primary goal is to achieve disaster resilience, and with the second phase, EPDCL is confident of realizing this objective. The underground cabling of power lines will not only reduce damage during natural calamities but also provide a more reliable power supply to the city's over 18 lakh consumers.
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News18
34 minutes ago
- News18
India Defies Global Poverty Trends Amid World Bank's Revised Estimates: What Does This Mean?
Last Updated: While the revision led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India not only withstood the raised threshold but demonstrated a massive drop in poverty India has emerged as a statistical outlier in a positive direction as the World Bank revised global poverty estimates, raising the International Poverty Line from USD 2.15 to USD 3.00 per day (based on 2021 purchasing power parity). While the change led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India not only withstood the raised threshold but also demonstrated a massive reduction in poverty, as per a central government fact sheet analysis. This was done using more refined data and updated survey methods. The new poverty line would have increased the count of global extreme poverty by 226 million people. But, due to India's data revision, the net global increase was only 125 million. WHAT DOES THE DATA SAY? According to World Bank data, over the decade from 2011-12 to 2022-23, India has lifted 171 million people out of extreme poverty (under USD 2.15 per day). The overall poverty rate dropped from 16.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent, or 5.3 per cent, when using the updated global benchmark (USD 3.00 per day) while accounting for purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustments. The data further showed reduction in rural poverty down to 2.8 per cent and urban to only 1.1 per cent, with widening access to food‑security schemes playing a key role. Challenges, however, remain in the form of urban youth unemployment and persistent wage inequality. WHY WAS THE POVERTY LINE REVISED? The World Bank said most of this upward revision is explained by revisions in the underlying national poverty lines rather than a change in prices. Here is what the new International Poverty Line (IPL) reflects: HOW DID INDIA INFLUENCE THE WORLD BANK'S GLOBAL BENCHMARK? This adjustment was expected to sharply increase the global count of those living in extreme poverty which was visible on poverty figures, estimated at 226 million people. According to the central government's fact sheet analysis, India's newly revised poverty data significantly softened the blow, reducing the count by 125 million. These figures offset more than half the global increase. India's updated consumption data significantly influenced the World Bank's global benchmark. The standout performance is largely attributed to improvements in data collection and measurement methods, which captured more actual spending leading to a more realistic poverty line and a lower poverty rate despite the increase in threshold. The country's latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) adopted the Modified Mixed Recall Period (MMRP) method, replacing the outdated Uniform Reference Period. This change provided a more accurate picture of household consumption, more effectively capturing actual spending. As a result, India's poverty rate in 2022-23 stood at just 5.25 per cent under the new USD 3.00 poverty line, and 2.35 per cent under the older USD 2.15 line – a dramatic decline from earlier decades. In 2011-12, applying MMRP reduced India's poverty rate from 22.9 per cent to 16.22 per cent, even under the older USD 2.15 poverty line. In 2022-23, poverty under the new USD 3.00 line stood at 5.25 per cent, while under the older USD 2.15 line it dropped further to 2.35 per cent. WHAT IS THE HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION SURVEY? The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) is designed to collect information on consumption and expenditure of the households on goods and services. Here are the key highlights of the HCES for 2023-24: Average Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE): In 2023-24, the average MPCE was Rs 4,122 in rural areas and Rs 6,996 in urban areas, excluding the value of items received free through social welfare programmes. When these are included, the figures rise to Rs 4,247 and Rs 7,078, respectively. This is a significant increase from the rural MPCE of Rs 1,430 and urban MPCE of Rs 2,630 in 2011-12 Urban-Rural Consumption Gap: The urban-rural consumption gap has narrowed from 84% in 2011-12 to 70% in 2023-24, indicating a reduction in consumption disparities between urban and rural households. State-wise Trends: All 18 major states reported an increase in average MPCE for both rural and urban areas. Odisha experienced the highest rural increase (about 14%), while Punjab saw the highest urban increase (about 13%). Consumption Inequality: The Gini coefficient, a measure of consumption inequality, decreased from 0.266 to 0.237 in rural areas and from 0.314 to 0.284 in urban areas between 2022-23 and 2023-24, suggesting a reduction in consumption inequality across most major states. SO, HAS POVERTY IN INDIA REDUCED? These findings complement the World Bank's revised figures, reinforcing the conclusion that poverty in India has reduced not just statistically, but through tangible improvements in household living standards and incomes. top videos View all India's poverty decline is a story of technical refinement meeting policy results. In the face of a raised poverty benchmark, the country showed that more honest data, not diluted standards, can reveal real progress. As the global community recalibrates poverty goals, India's example sets a precedent: evidence-based governance, sustained reforms, and methodological integrity can together deliver transformational outcomes. Get Latest Updates on Movies, Breaking News On India, World, Live Cricket Scores, And Stock Market Updates. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : poverty world bank Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 08, 2025, 17:38 IST News explainers India Defies Global Poverty Trends Amid World Bank's Revised Estimates: What Does This Mean?
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Mint Explainer: What the World Bank's new poverty line means for India
Last week, the World Bank announced a new poverty line to decide how many people worldwide live in 'extreme poverty". The new threshold is higher than the previous one even in inflation-adjusted terms. That means many more people globally will suddenly find themselves below that benchmark and now be counted as 'poor". However, for India, the estimate has been revised downwards. That's because it's not all about the poverty line itself – other factors are at play, too. Also, 5.3% of Indians are poor by one measure, and 23.9% by another. Let's unpack all this. First, what is the poverty line? The poverty line is a minimum level of spending needed to meet one's basic nutrition, clothing and shelter needs. The number of people who cannot afford even that are classified as poor. One can adopt several standards to set the poverty line, and countries are free to decide those for themselves. But doing so at a global level is complex. A simple exchange-rate adjustment of India's poverty line in rupees per month wouldn't make it comparable with an American spending in dollars or a Kenyan spending in shillings, given the vastly different pricing levels in those countries. Also read | Himanshu: India needs official poverty data for effective policymaking To allow international comparisons, researchers created an international poverty line in 1990 that was adjusted for 'purchasing power parity' (PPP) across economies. PPP is an economic concept that compares the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services in different countries to determine the relative value and purchasing power of their currencies. That gave the World Bank its first global standard for a poverty line – $1 a day (at 1985 PPP). But PPP factors don't stay the same, since inflation is different everywhere, so the World Bank's International Comparison Program (ICP) keeps updating the PPP factors. This necessitates updates to the international poverty line as well. That's what has happened now. Because of such updates, it's possible that without any remarkable change in standards of living, one can cross the global line or slip under it merely through a methodology update. So, what did the World Bank say? Last week, the World Bank applied the 2021 PPP updates (which the ICP released last year) to determine a new poverty line. It also took into account improved data collection methods by several poor countries, which led to new poverty lines for them. Earlier, anyone who spent less than $2.15 a day on basic needs (at 2017 PPPs) was said to be poor. Adjusted to inflation, it would have been around $2.60 a day in 2021, but the new benchmark (which isn't merely due to PPP changes but also because of improved consumption surveys) is $3 a day at 2021 PPPs. Also read: India must redraw its poverty line to reflect economic progress When the World Bank issued its last estimate in September 2024, it counted 9% of people in the world as poor in 2022 based on the $2.15-a-day threshold. Now it reckons the figure was 10.5% (again, in 2022) by the new yardstick. This means 125 million more people were poor in 2022 (the latest reference year for which data is known reliably) than what last year's estimate had said. But there are two caveats to this. One, this increase doesn't necessarily mean more people are now poor; it means more people will now be classified as poor. Two, this number would have been much higher had the World Bank not applied a new method to come up with India's data (which was an outlier, seeing a decline in poverty rate). How has India's data helped in the revision of the estimates? Multiple factors, not just the application of 2021 PPP factors, have come together to influence poverty rates within the space of a few months. A major one is that the World Bank has now taken into account India's first official household consumption expenditure survey (CES) in 11 years, which took place in 2022-23 (and has since also taken place in 2023-24). When the data was still awaited for long, the World Bank was forced to use alternative sources to issue the best possible estimate of 12.9% for 2021 based on the $2.15-a-day poverty line. But now, the estimate stands revised to 5.3%. The change is based on both the new poverty line and the new official data that's now available. If we applied the old benchmark ($2.15 a day), around 2.4% of Indians were poor in 2022, as per the World Bank's calculations on that year's CES. The CES data for the 2023-24 survey is also available, but that doesn't yet reflect in the World Bank data. Let's apply a like-to-like comparison to summarise this: at the $2.15-a-day poverty line, the poverty rate for 2022 has been revised from 12.9% to 2.4%, thanks to the new official data. Meanwhile, the poverty rate for 2022 has gone up from 2.4% to 5.3% thanks to the changed poverty line. How has India's poverty rate changed over time? Any comparison with old data is ill-advised. The two poverty lines retrospectively applied to the CES of 2011-12 puts the somewhat comparable figures at 16.2% ($2.15 a day) and 27.1% ($3 a day). That means in both cases, poverty has shrunk drastically; by the new threshold, an estimated net 269 million Indians exited poverty in these 11 years. But this comparison isn't that straightforward. The 2011-12 CES is hardly comparable with the new surveys held in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The new ones tend to record higher consumption by Indians due to fundamentally improved data collection practices, and also because they ask them to lay out their spending on 405 items instead of 347 earlier. Also read: Don't deceive the poor world with an expensive green illusion The new surveys also assign consumption values to subsidised goods and services obtained from state-run schemes. This, too, raises the value of consumption spending for households. In summary, the methodology now records Indians as spending more in general, so it's harder to fall below a particular poverty line. But while a direct comparison isn't advisable, it is evident that poverty rates may indeed have fallen by a lot in the past decade. By how much, it's difficult to say. What more should one know about this? One, this is not the only poverty line the World Bank uses globally. This is actually the median of the national poverty lines of only low-income countries. It is applied to all countries under the name 'extreme poverty", meaning that one who is 'poor" even by the standards of low-income countries can be said to be living in 'extreme poverty". There are two other poverty lines: one for lower-middle-income countries, which has been revised from $3.65 to $4.20 a day, and for middle-income countries, which has been revised from $6.85 to $8.30. India is a lower-middle income country, so the $4.20-a-day poverty line would be a more relevant one. By that benchmark, 23.9% Indians were poor in 2022, as compared to 28.1% estimated by the old poverty line. The retrospective figure for 2011-12 (not strictly comparable) is nearly 58%. Also read | Mint Primer: How to read SBI's latest poverty estimates Secondly, the World Bank report also said there were 'growing concerns" about the CES's inability to capture households at the top of the consumption pyramid, and also observed its own need to exclude certain data captured in the CES—both factors, it said, would underestimate inequality in India. That said, the new CES methodology is more robust than the earlier one, and could provide more frequent poverty estimates hereon. Comparisons with the past data are impossible, and should ideally not be used to quantify progress over time.
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
Despite World Bank raising threshold, India achieves big dip in extreme poverty
NEW DELHI: India's extreme poverty rate has fallen sharply over the past decade after the World Bank updated its international poverty line definition and included updated data in its June upgrade of the methodology. Based on the update, the latest World Bank data showed that the extreme poverty rate had declined from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23. The number of people living in extreme poverty also fell sharply during this period from 344.47 million in 2011-12 to 75.24 million in 2022-23. This would mean that nearly 270 million were lifted out of extreme poverty during the same period. In a blog, the World Bank said that the international poverty line for low-income countries has been raised to $3 per person per day from the existing $2.15 per person per day, and for lower middle-income countries it's changed from $3.65 to $4.20 per day and for upper middle-income countries it went up from $6.85 to $8.40. Given India's inflation rate, between 2017 and 2021, a revised extreme poverty line of $3 would constitute a 15% higher threshold than $2.15 expressed in 2021 prices and result in a 5.3% poverty rate in 2022-23. A new LMIC line of $4.20 would imply a 5% lower threshold for poverty than $3.65 adjusted in 2021 prices and yield a poverty rate of 23.9%, according to the World Bank. Using the new poverty line for low middle income countries (LMIC), which is at $4.20 per day per person, India's poverty rate fell to 23.9% in 2022-23 from 57.7% in 2011-12. The number of people in extreme poverty was down from 732.48 million in 2011-12 to 342.32 million in 2022-23, according to the data available on the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform. Free and subsidised food transfers supported poverty reduction, and the rural-urban poverty gap narrowed. The five most populous states account for 54% of the extremely poor, it had said. According to the poverty and equity brief published by World Bank in April, extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 per day) fell from 16.2% in 2011- 12 to 2.3% in 2022-23, lifting 171 million people above this line. Rural extreme poverty dropped from 18.4% to 2.8% , and urban from 10.7% to 1.1% , narrowing the rural-urban gap from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points-a 16% annual decline. The poverty report had also said India has transitioned into the lower-middle-income category. Using the $3.65 per day LMIC poverty line, poverty fell from 61.8% to 28.1%, lifting 378 million people out of poverty. Rural poverty dropped from 69% to 32.5%, and urban poverty from 43.5% to 17.2%, reducing the rural-urban gap from 25 to 15 percentage points with a 7% annual decline, the April report had said. The updated World Bank data is expected to come as a shot in the arm for the govt and bolster its record of handling the economy and pursuing policies to push inclusive growth and lift millions out of poverty. Last year, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subhramanyam had indicated that the poverty level could be less than 5% based on preliminary estimates on the household consumption expenditure (HCES) data released by the statistics office. World Bank has said that in recent years, the scope and quality of information provided by household surveys has improved enormously, particularly in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, offering a clearer view into people's welfare and day-to-day lives. Several research papers have also indicated the reduction in extreme poverty over the last decade thanks to robust growth. A survey released last year estimated poverty to have declined to 8.5% from 21% in 2011-12 and pointed out that chronic poverty has come down but there is a significant proportion of people who can slip back into poverty due to "accident of life". World Bank, which introduced the international poverty line (IPL) in 1990, has undertaken several updates to include changing prices and costs, and the latest update was undertaken on June 5. The first update to IPL happened in 2001, with subsequent revisions in 2008, 2015, 2022, and more recently this month. This latest update, which also applies to the poverty lines for middle-income countries, follows the release last year of a new set of PPPs based on prices collected in 2021 by the International Comparison Programme. It also reflects changes in national poverty lines, which is a big reason for the increase, especially for the line that tracks extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
