Planning Commission has constituted an expert group headed by noted Economist C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty. Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar told reporters on Thursday that the expert group is expected to give its report in 7-9 months.

Outlining the need for revisiting the methodology for estimating poverty, Kumar said, that People's perspective about poverty has changed and there is a need to take a fresh look into the methodology for estimation of poverty in the country.

The Commission's estimates, based on Tendulkar Committee methodology, that people consuming more than Rs 28.65 per daily in cities and Rs 22.42 in rural areas are not poor, had triggered a controversy which even rocked Parliament.

Kumar said that the poverty, based on Tendulkar Committee methodology has come down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10 and the number of poor persons in the country has reduced from 40.7 crore in 2004-05 to 35.5 crore in 2009-10.

The Tendulkar Committee, which submitted its Report in 2009, has incorporated adequacy of expenditure from the normative and nutritional viewpoint.

The Minister said that the expert group will also recommend how the estimates of poverty should be linked to eligibility and entitlements for government's social sector schemes and programmes.