The head count ratio as a measure of poverty indicates
- A.How far below the poverty line the poor are
- B.The proportion of the population below the poverty line
- C.The inequality of income among the poor
- D.The number of people who are unemployed
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the proportion of the population below the poverty line. The head count ratio simply counts how many people fall below the line and divides that by the total population, which makes it easy to understand and easy to compare across states. Option A is wrong because the depth of poverty, that is the average shortfall of the poor from the line, is measured by the poverty gap index, and it is precisely what the head count ratio fails to show. Option C is wrong because inequality among the poor is captured by the squared poverty gap or by measures such as the Gini coefficient. Option D is wrong because unemployment is a separate concept measured by labour force surveys; a person may be employed and still poor, which is common among casual workers.
Read the full article: Poverty and Unemployment in India: Concepts and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following organisations conducts the sample surveys for calculating the poverty line in India?
- A.Ministry of Finance
- B.RBI
- C.CSO
- D.NSSO
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The National Sample Survey Office carries out the large household surveys of consumption expenditure from which the number of people below the poverty line is worked out, and it now functions within the National Statistical Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Read the full explanation →What is the term used for people who regularly move in and out of the poverty line?
- A.Occasionally poor
- B.Usually Poor
- C.Chronic poor
- D.Churning poor
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In the standard classification the churning poor are those whose consumption crosses the poverty line and falls back below it again and again, the typical cases being small and marginal farmers and casual labourers whose earnings depend on the season.
Read the full explanation →A situation in which more workers are engaged in a job than are actually required, so that withdrawing some of them does not reduce output, is called
- A.Frictional unemployment
- B.Disguised unemployment
- C.Cyclical unemployment
- D.Structural unemployment
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Here the extra workers appear to be employed but their marginal contribution to output is close to zero, which is why the condition is called disguised or hidden; the classic Indian example is a family farm on which several members work a plot that two could manage.
Read the full explanation →Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, how many days of wage employment are guaranteed to a rural household in a financial year?
- A.50
- B.75
- C.100
- D.150
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The Act, passed in 2005, gives every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work a legal right to one hundred days of wage employment in a financial year, and if work is not provided within the prescribed period the applicant becomes entitled to an unemployment allowance.
Read the full explanation →The expert group that in 2009 recommended dropping the calorie norm as the anchor of the poverty line was headed by
- A.D. T. Lakdawala
- B.Suresh Tendulkar
- C.C. Rangarajan
- D.Y. K. Alagh
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The Tendulkar expert group reported in 2009, moved away from the calorie anchor, used a mixed reference period for consumption and brought private spending on health and education into the basket, which raised the estimated share of the poor.
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