Poverty in India is an important issue. India has some of the poorest people in the world.
The Government of India says that the poverty line for rural areas is ₹ 816 per month and ₹ 1000 per month in urban areas. This means that many people do not have enough money. India's proposed but not yet adopted official poverty line is ₹972 (US$14) a month in rural areas or ₹1,407 (US$21) a month in cities.
In India, the average calorie requirement of an average man is 2400 calories per day in Rural area and 2100 calories per day in Urban area.
In 2012, the latest report by the Planning Commission of India (Tendulkar Committee) reported that 26% of all people in India fall below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day. Over the last decade, poverty has been witnessed a consistent decline with the levels dropping from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 29.8% in 2009-10. The number of poor people is now estimated at 250 million.
