Over 33 million Indians were added to the ranks of the poor in 2001-02. According to the results of the 57th round of the National Sample Survey, the number of people living below the poverty line went up to 27.6 per cent in 2001-02. The corresponding figure in 2000-01 was only 24.4 per cent.
Rural areas saw a marked rise in poverty levels, as the percentage of people living below the poverty line went up from 24.4 per cent in 2000-01 to 28.6 per cent in 2001-02. The results are surprising because in 2001-02 the economy grew at 5.6 per cent and agriculture at 5.2 per cent.
In urban areas, the poverty situation improved marginally, with the number of poor people going down from 24.50 per cent in 2000-01 to 24.37 per cent in 2001-02.
Both the 56th and 57th rounds are thin sample rounds and the results are not generally used to calculate poverty levels. The official poverty figures are based on the quinquennial large sample surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation. The last one, in 1999-2000, had put the all-India poverty figure at 26 per cent.
To arrive at the latest rural poverty figures, the consumer price index for agricultural labourers was used to scale the 1999-2000 poverty lines to the level applicable for 2001-02.
Similarly, the consumer price index for industrial workers was applied to the 1999-2000 poverty figures to calculate the urban poverty levels in 2001-02.
In 2001-02, the monthly per capita consumption expenditure in rural areas rose a mere 0.7 per cent over that in 2000-01, while the consumer price index for agricultural labourers, a measure of their cost of living, went up 2.23 per cent.
Agricultural labourers account for about 35 per cent of all agricultural workers and constitute a major section of the rural poor. The sharp rise in their cost of living negated the effect of higher consumption expenditure, pushing more people below the poverty line.
In contrast, urban areas saw a 2 per cent rise in consumption expenditure as against a 4.75 per cent rise in the consumer price index. Yet, poverty figures have gone down marginally.
This could be because growth in consumption expenditure was higher at the lower end of the income distribution, said economists.
© 2026