The Narendra Modi led BJP government may soon come out with a new poverty line after various controversies surrounding the issue during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

Niti Aayog is likely to set up a panel of experts to formulate the new poverty line. This will be based on latest available household consumption expenditure survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

According to a report by Times of India, a Niti Aayog official said that the new poverty line will only define poverty, and won't be used to identify the poor or allocate resources under government schemes. It will purely be a tool to measure the impact of programmes like the anti-poverty schemes and other welfare initiatives, and a target for poverty reduction.

Suresh Tendulkar proposed that those spending at least Rs 27 in rural and Rs 33 in urban areas in 2011-12 be identified as being above the poverty line.
C Rangarajan raised the limit to Rs 32 and Rs 47 for rural and urban areas, respectively. This was proposed in 2014 and wasn't accepted by the Modi government.

READ: Eradicating poverty in India a Sisyphean task