UPSC Prelims 2022 CSAT Paper II · Q12 of 78 Comprehension medium

Passage

Passage—2 The poverty line is quite unsatisfactory when it comes to grasping the extent of poverty in India. It is not only because of its extremely narrow definition of ‘who is poor’ and the debatable methodology used to count the poor, but also because of a more fundamental assumption underlying it. It exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power. One can better categorize it by calling it income poverty. If poverty is ultimately about deprivations affecting human well-being, then income poverty is only one aspect of it. Poverty of a life, in our view, lies not merely in the impoverished state in which the person actually lives, but also in the lack of real opportunity given by social constraints as well as personal circumstances—to choose other types of living. Even the relevance of low incomes, meagre possessions, and other aspects of what are standardly seen as economic poverty relate ultimately to their role in curtailing capabilities, i.e., their role in severely restricting the choices people have to lead variable and valued lives.

Why is the methodology adopted in India to count the ‘poor’ debatable?

  1. (a) There is some confusion regarding what should constitute the ‘poverty line’.
  2. (b) There are wide diversities in the condition of the rural and urban poor.
  3. (c) There is no uniform global standard for measuring income poverty.
  4. (d) It is based on the proposition of poverty as meagre income or buying capacity. ✓ UPSC's answer

Why the answer is (d)

• The passage explicitly states that the poverty line is unsatisfactory due to its 'extremely narrow definition' and 'debatable methodology'.

• It clarifies that this methodology exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as 'insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power'.

• The text argues that this approach, termed 'income poverty', is only one aspect of the broader concept of poverty, which involves deprivations affecting human well-being and capabilities.

• Therefore, the methodology is considered debatable because it reduces the complex issue of poverty to a single economic metric: meagre income or buying capacity.

• This aligns directly with option (d), which identifies the reliance on the proposition of poverty as meagre income or buying capacity as the core issue.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) There is some confusion regarding what should constitute the ‘poverty line’.
The passage does not mention confusion regarding the definition of the poverty line, but rather criticizes the narrowness of the definition itself.
(b) There are wide diversities in the condition of the rural and urban poor.
The text does not cite the diversity between rural and urban poor as the reason for the methodology being debatable.
(c) There is no uniform global standard for measuring income poverty.
The passage focuses on the internal conceptual limitation of defining poverty solely by income, not on the absence of a global standard.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2022, held on 5 June 2022. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

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