Can There Be A Proper Calculation Procedure Of The Poverty Line?

Poverty has become a prominent topic for social policy discussions in India. Different countries have their own methodologies to calculate the poverty line. This is the reason why they are country-wise unique. In India, it is generally calculated through calorie intake measure. As the measurement criterion is not very sound because of the limited access to the technology of food calorie measurement, the calculation of poverty line in India is invariably with less or no proper validation. This paper tries to minimize the subjectivity, and aims to convert the poverty line concept into a realistic line concept by using the 3s-limit of normal distribution model. The author validates the usual calorie-based measurement by the new 3s-limit concept. It is shown that within a particular population with varied income groups, the actual poverty line can be drawn. This line shows that the rich people’s data is not only redundant but should also be eliminated from the actual calculations, as this will only inflate the data under consideration, resulting in wrong value of calculated poverty line. The 3s-limit calculation is shown step by step with examples through which the segments of the population falling under different categories, like super-rich, rich, average, poor, and very poor, can easily be located. People falling under very poor category are the people under poverty line.