The poverty line has moved but have basic vulnerabilities in India eased?

Mint

2 days ago

According to recent World Bank data, extreme poverty in India fell sharply from 27.1% in 2011–12 to just 5.3% in 2022–23, suggesting that 269 million people have been lifted out of poverty. While this achievement is nominally and statistically significant, the finding prompts a deeper and more structural methodological question: Are we counting fewer people as 'poor' in India, or are we failing to capture the full spectrum of vulnerabilities that persist among people in relative poverty which discussions based on 'poverty line' measurement miss in scope and reality?
Historically, poverty measurement in India relied predominantly on income or consumption. This approach universally classifies individuals as poor or non-poor based solely on monetary criteria, offering a limited view of deprivation. In India, the Tendulkar Committee and later the Rangarajan Committee refined these poverty lines to reflect changing consumption patterns, but still focused primarily on income criteria. However, over the last two decades, the conceptualization of poverty, its measurement and assessment have all evolved significantly.
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Multidimensional frameworks, including the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), highlight that poverty encompasses deficits in education, health and living standards.
Much of India's recent poverty discourse has centred on updated metrics, including the World Bank's shift from a poverty line of $2.15 to $3 per day and methodological refinements such as the adoption of thslum e 'modified mixed recall period' (MMRP) in consumption surveys. These changes, while noteworthy, underscore a deeper tension between statistical representation and lived deprivation. As critiques argue, estimates that rely on projected data, especially in the absence of post-pandemic ground surveys, risk portraying a linear trajectory of progress that may not fully account for access-based or structural vulnerabilities.
A victory, but for whom?: While incomes have risen, they have not translated into improved well-being when access to essential public goods such as healthcare, education, transportation and digital infrastructure remains unequal. For multitudes, these access gaps persist,
Uttar Pradesh (UP), Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, states that together made up 65% of India's extreme poor in 2011–12, account for two-thirds of India's overall reduction in extreme poverty.
Yet, our Access Inequality Index Report 2025, which ranks Indian states based on access to essentials across five pillars—basic amenities, healthcare, education, socio-economic services and legal recourse—reveals a more uneven picture. While West Bengal and Maharashtra show relatively better rankings as 'achiever' and 'front-runner' states, respectively, UP and Bihar remain in the 'aspirant' category.
This means that despite reductions in poverty as measured by consumption or income, the majority of households in these states continue to lack reliable access to vital public goods. For instance, only 19% of households in UP and 21.5% in Bihar have access to clean cooking fuel. Just 22.4% of households in Maharashtra and 33.7% in West Bengal have at least one member covered by a health insurance or finance scheme.
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States such as Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu consistently rank high in access to essential public services, with Goa leading overall and topping categories like basic amenities and healthcare. For example, 90% of households in Goa live in pucca houses, compared to 83.4% in Kerala and 87.9% in Tamil Nadu. Also, 91.9% of households in Goa have access to piped water supply within their dwelling or yard, while child immunization rates stand at 84.1% in Goa, 84.5% in Kerala and 85.7% in Tamil Nadu. In contrast, states such as Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh lag far behind.
These deprivations are critical to people's well-being and show that income thresholds alone are insufficient markers of progress. A household that marginally exceeds the poverty line but lacks clean water or reliable healthcare remains vulnerable. These forms of deprivation often remain invisible in conventional consumption data, yet they are pivotal in determining a household's ability to recover from shocks, invest in education or participate fully in economic life.
Alternative readings: An analysis of household income data by Azim Premji University's State of Working India 2021 highlights the unequal economic impact of the covid pandemic. The lowest 10 percentiles saw a steep 27% decline in income, compared to 23% among the 40th-50th percentiles and 22% among the top 10 percentiles. Income losses were more pronounced in urban areas. And although the setbacks may appear modest, the absolute income reduction for low-income households has been profound. This financial distress coincided with a sharp increase in non-monetary deprivations.
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The Hunger Watch survey reported in 2022 that 80% of respondents experienced some form of food insecurity, with 25% suffering severe distress (like skipped meals and hunger); 41% observed a decline in the nutritional quality of their diets, and 67% were unable to afford cooking gas in the month preceding the survey. A Pew Research Centre report in 2022 also estimated that about 75 million additional people in India fell into poverty due to the pandemic.
The subsequent State of Working India 2023 study reaffirmed these patterns, documenting a 22% drop in cumulative household income from March to October 2020, with the poorest households disproportionately affected, driving a notable surge in poverty rates.
While welfare programmes such as the PM Awas Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana and Ayushman Bharat have expanded coverage, and direct benefit transfers have improved matters, challenges persist. Access to resources does not always translate to adequacy; owning a gas cylinder does not guarantee regular refills. Many essential services remain underfunded, unevenly implemented or inaccessible, particularly in rural and remote areas. All this makes access inequality the emerging face of poverty in India.
Ultimately, despite significant improvements in headline poverty metrics, a closer examination reveals a more complex reality. The persistence of access disparities, relative poverty and regional inequalities underscores the need for clarity on poverty today. We must pay attention to institutional capacity, political will and the equitable distribution of public goods.
The authors are, respectively, dean and research analyst, O.P. Jindal Global University.