Which of the following Committees recommended a poverty line based on nutritional requirements exclusively ?
- (a)Alagh Committee
- (b)Lakdawala Committee
- (c)Tendulkar Committee
- (d)Rangarajan Committee
Correct — A, Alagh Committee. The 1979 Task Force chaired by Dr Y.K. Alagh gave India's first official poverty line, defined purely on nutritional (calorie) norms: 2,400 kcal per person per day in rural areas and 2,100 kcal in urban areas. The expenditure required to meet that calorie intake became the poverty line — a strictly nutrition-based benchmark.
- (b)Lakdawala Committee — The Lakdawala Committee (1993) retained the calorie anchor but its main recommendation was to update the poverty line using price indices (CPI-AL/CPI-IW) and to construct state-specific poverty lines — a pricing/methodology reform, not a fresh nutrition-only definition.
- (c)Tendulkar Committee — The Tendulkar Committee (2009) deliberately moved AWAY from a pure calorie norm to a broader consumption basket that also captured health and education spending, using Mixed Reference Period data.
- (d)Rangarajan Committee — The Rangarajan Committee (2014) used calorie, protein and fat norms TOGETHER with a normative non-food component — a wider basket, not nutrition 'exclusively'.
India's poverty line has been redefined by successive expert groups. The earliest — the Alagh Task Force (1979) — pegged poverty solely to a minimum calorie intake. Later committees progressively broadened the basket (prices, state variation, then health/education), so 'exclusively nutritional' uniquely fits Alagh.
The word 'exclusively' is the key. Several committees used calorie norms, but only Alagh based the line on nutrition alone; Lakdawala re-priced it, and Tendulkar/Rangarajan added non-food/other dimensions. Eliminate any committee that broadened beyond calories.
- Alagh Task Force, 1979 — first official poverty line, calorie-based only
- Norms: 2,400 kcal/day rural, 2,100 kcal/day urban
- Lakdawala (1993): price-index updating + state-specific lines
- Tendulkar (2009) & Rangarajan (2014): moved to wider baskets beyond pure calories
- Assuming Tendulkar/Rangarajan are calorie-only because they mention nutrition
- Confusing Lakdawala's re-pricing with a new nutritional definition
As a committee↔methodology match — 'which committee did X (calorie norm / state-specific lines / wider basket)' in both UPSC and UPPSC economy sections.
Persons below the poverty line in India are classified as such based on whether
- (a) they are entitled to a minimum prescribed food basket
- (b) they get work for a prescribed minimum number of days in a year
- (c) they belong to agricultural labourer household and the scheduled caste/tribe social group
- (d) their daily wages fall below the prescribed minimum wages
Answer(a) they are entitled to a minimum prescribed food basket
Same concept — India's poverty line is anchored to a minimum calorie/food-basket norm, exactly the nutrition-based logic the Alagh Committee introduced.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The calorie norms (2,400 kcal rural / 2,100 kcal urban) for India's poverty line were first laid down by:
- (a)Lakdawala Committee
- (b)Alagh Task Force
- (c)Tendulkar Committee
- (d)Rangarajan Committee
Answer(b) Alagh Task Force (1979).
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which committee recommended shifting from a calorie-based poverty line to a broader consumption basket including health and education?
- (a)Alagh Committee
- (b)Lakdawala Committee
- (c)Tendulkar Committee
- (d)Dandekar-Rath
Answer(c) Tendulkar Committee (2009).