NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam has said that the latest consumer expenditure survey indicates that poverty has come down to five per cent in the country and people are becoming prosperous both in rural and urban areas. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, released data on household consumption expenditure for the year 2022-23 which shows per capita monthly household expenditure more than doubled in 2022-23 as compared to 2011-12.
Subrahmanyam said this long-awaited consumer expenditure survey has brought out many things. He said ‘with data on household consumption, we can assess what is the status of poverty in the country and how successful the poverty alleviation measures have been’. He said that for the purpose of the survey, people were kept in 20 different categories and the data showed that the average per capita monthly expenditure for all categories stood at Rs 3,773 in rural areas and Rs 6,459 in urban areas. The average per capita monthly expenditure of 0-5 per cent fractile class is pegged at Rs 1,373 in rural areas and Rs 2,001 in urban areas.
He said ‘If we take the poverty line and inflate it with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to today's rate, we see that the average consumption of the lowest fractional, the 0-5 per cent, is about the same. This means poverty in the country is there in the 0-5 per cent group only’. Citing the survey data, he said the increase in consumption both in rural and urban areas is about 2.5 times. This shows that the progress in the country is happening in both urban and rural areas.
He further said another significant takeaway from the survey findings is that consumption in rural areas is growing faster than in urban areas, thereby narrowing the gap and disparities are coming down. According to the survey data, the gap was 84 per cent in 2011-12 and has come down to 71 per cent in 2022-23. The gap was at its peak of 91 per cent in 2004-05. He said if the trend continues, it is possible that urban and rural incomes and consumption will be the same in the coming years.
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