Mr PM: Do you have cloths to wear? How often do you buy them? I won't allow you to buy more than two sets of clothing and a pair of chappals/sandals a year. I think if you grab the cheapest ones around, you can buy 2 sets of clothing and a pair of sandals for ₹ 400. So in a month, it turns out, you will spend around ₹ 33 on apparels. But, still you don't have any warm clothes for the winter or a watch to keep track of time. Wait, we will see to it later.
And the last thing, but not the least important one Â- your shelter. Do you have a house? If you have a house, I will allow you a lump sum amount of ₹ 500 annually for maintenance and repairing of the house which becomes a monthly expense of ₹ 42. But, wait Â- you have other members in your household Â- so if you share the cost among, say 4 members, it costs you ₹ 10.50 a month. If you don't own a house, then you will have to pay rent. Suppose, if you pay ₹ 300 a month for the most frugal accommodation, then sharing with other family members Â- your share will be ₹ 75 a month.
I understand, I am not giving you enough Â- but the bare minimum provisions for sustenance. We haven't yet taken into account your educational expenses, if you have any. We haven't allowed you any level of comfort, forget recreation or luxury. Even at this level of frugality, it stands out that you need roughly ₹ 814 a month, if you have a shelter of your own but if you rent a house, your monthly expenditure will rise to roughly ₹ 878.
So wherever Mr PM goes, in a village or a town in India, for nothing less than ₹ 878, he can live a life with dignity. Let's call this expenditure ₹ 878 (~ nominal $20) per month per capita "new poverty line" .
If any person fails to incur at least this expenditure in a normal month, he/she should be considered as living below poverty line (BPL). Any person living above the new poverty line would be leading a life of basic human dignity and anyone below this line should be eligible to receive government aids and welfare services irrespective of gender, religion, and caste.
Is the Planning Commission listening to this call for modifying the poverty line?
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