Poverty can be defined as whether households or individuals have enough resources or abilities today to meet their needs.
"The income approach to poverty, which considers people earning less than a certain amount annually as poor, is not an accurate measure of how well people live...precedence to one's capability or the capacity that people have of choosing and leading their lives." Amartya Sen
The above statement is something that I agree with because measuring poverty just on the basis of income undermines the quality of life of people. This also is closely associated with the fact that the amount of money spent on each member of the family may not be equal, but then the "aggregate family income" may not adequately reflect the deprivation of neglected members.
The other option that has been used to calculate poverty is on the basis of calorie intake. According to this method, the minimum calorie level intake for people in urban areas should be 2100cal and 2400cal for people in rural areas. But Abhijit Sen, member of Planning Commission, said that if this was taken into consideration, 64% of urban population and 80% of rural population would be below poverty line. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/measure-poverty-by-income-not-calories-sen/488417/0).
These stats don't co-incide with the stats given by the rural development committee, which clearly show that there is no consensus on the quantum of populace living below the poverty line.
Poverty is another issue. and i am really skeptical about who to consider poor.. ive seen people in sheds.. literally have a tv.. so is that poverty??
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Well poverty has also become a relative term, just like every other thing in the world!
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