Key Concepts

The main terms introduced in this NCERT Class 11 Economics chapter on poverty, with brief explanations in our own words, are given below for quick revision.

• Poverty line — the cut-off level of per capita monthly expenditure that separates the poor from the non-poor; a person or household below it is counted as poor.
• Absolute poverty — the per capita consumption-expenditure level that meets the average daily requirement of 2,400 calories in rural areas and 2,100 calories in urban areas, together with a minimum of non-food expenditure.
• Head Count Ratio — the number of poor estimated as the proportion (percentage) of people below the poverty line.
• Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) — the monthly consumption expenditure per person, used by the government as a proxy for household income to identify the poor.
• Antyodaya — the principle of uplifting the poorest of the poor first, a guiding idea of India's planning.
• Chronic poor — those who are always poor or usually poor (for example casual workers) — poverty that persists over time.
• Transient poor — those who move in and out of poverty: the churning poor (for example small farmers and seasonal workers) and the occasionally poor.
• Non-poor — those who are never below the poverty line.
• Sen Index / Poverty Gap Index / Squared Poverty Gap — alternative measures of poverty (the Sen Index developed by Amartya Sen) that capture the depth and distribution of poverty, not just the head count.
• Food for Work — a wage-employment programme (started in the 1970s) that gives the rural poor work — creating rural infrastructure — in return for food grains or wages.
• Self-help group (SHG) — a small group of poor people who save and lend among themselves and receive partial bank/government assistance for self-employment. …