UP, Bihar, Maharashtra home to highest number of poor

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of poor population at 7.37 crore, followed by Bihar and Maharashtra in 2009-10, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Bihar and Maharashtra had poor population of 5.43 crore and 2.7 crore respectively in the year 2009-10 based on poverty line fixed using Tendulkar Committee formula, as per data provided by the Planning Commission in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. According to the Tendulkar Committee formula, besides traditional method of fixing poverty line on the basis of calorie intake, the expenditure on health and education is also factored in. The data also showed that the number of poor in the entire country during 2009-10 was 35.46 crore using the Tendulkar Committee formula for fixing the poverty line. In 2009-10, the Commission estimated the number of poor in Madhya Pradesh at 2.61 crore, West Bengal 2.4 crore, Andhra Pradesh 1.76 crore, Rajasthan 1.67 crore, Orissa 1.53 crore, Karnataka 1.42 crore, Gujarat 1.36 crore and Jharkhand 1.26 crore in the year 2009-10 as per the formula. Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh had poor population of 1.21 crore each followed by Assam at 1.16 crore and Haryana at 49.96 lakh. PTI