India to re-define poverty benchmark after outcry

India's top economic planning body said on Monday it would revise a proposed new poverty benchmark after stirring a storm of protest by declaring any villager earning 50 cents a day was not poor.

The proposed new poverty measure, which had been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office, had been condemned by social activists as unrealistic -- especially with India's soaring inflation.

Last month, the commission suggested those with a daily income of 25 rupees (50 cents) in villages and 32 rupees in cities should not be classed as being below the poverty line and entitled to government welfare benefits.

"We have supported the idea that entitlements should go beyond the poverty line level," Planning Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia told a news conference.

He denied it had been the commission's intention that "benefits should be limited to those below the poverty line."

The commission had initially suggested that anyone earning more than 50 cents in villages and 65 cents in cities would have enough funds for "food, education and health."

While India boasts a burgeoning class of urban rich thanks to a rapidly expanding economy, hundreds of millions of people still face a lack of food, clean water and proper housing.

Ahluwalia's statements came after Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and several impoverished states where tens of millions of poor are dependent on state entitlements criticised the new poverty benchmarks.

Indian social activists had also challenged Ahluwalia to live on 50 cents a day and prove that it was enough money on which to survive.

"We are now clearly, categorically and unequivocally saying there is no link between state-wise poverty estimates done by Planning Commission and the selection of (welfare) beneficiaries," Ramesh told the same news conference.

The eligibility of rural households for different government welfare schemes would be determined after a census survey, Ahluwalia and Ramesh said in a joint statement.

The census "will seek to ensure that no poor or deprived household will be excluded from (welfare) coverage," the government said in a statement.

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