Chief ministers of Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have raised certain objections on the method adopted for fixing the ceiling for qualifying in the below poverty line category, parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"According to information received from the prime minister's office (PMO), chief ministers of Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have raised certain objections on the method of pre-determined BPL ceiling adopted while conducting the nationwide socio-economic census 2011," minister of state for planning Ashwani Kumar said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

He said the ministry of rural development has been asked to apprise the state governments of the methodology being used in the census survey and address any legitimate grievances on the issue.

Kumar, however, did not give details regarding objections made by the chief ministers.

The minister said the poverty line has been defined by the planning commission on the basis of monthly per capita consumption expenditure. The method used for estimation of poverty has been reviewed from time to time, he added.

The planning commission in 2009 had constituted a panel under the chairmanship of Suresh Tendulkar to review the methodology for poverty estimation in the country.

"Based on the Tendulkar committee methodology the poverty lines in 2004-05 (base year) at all India level are calculated as per capital consumption expenditure of Rs 446.68 per month for rural areas and Rs 578.80 for urban areas," Kumar said.