Summary

The chapter's own Recap (printed at the end of the NCERT chapter), summarised:

• Reducing poverty has been one of the major objectives of India's developmental strategies.
• 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, along with a minimum of non-food expenditure, is called the poverty line or absolute poverty.
• Comparing the number of poor and their proportion gives an idea of different levels of poverty and their distribution between states and over time.
• The number of poor in India and their proportion to the total population have declined substantially; for the first time, in the 1990s, the absolute number of poor declined.
• The majority of the poor reside in rural areas and work in casual and unskilled jobs.
• Income- and expenditure-oriented approaches do not take into account many other attributes of the poor. …