Raising the poverty line income (PLI) shows the government is keeping abreast of the realities on the ground. Now that we’ve realised that a larger group needs policy intervention, the government can help raise the standard of living for more urban and rural poor.
The revision in the national PLI is helpful in terms of allowing more households to fall under the new threshold and be included in government aid and targeted programmes.
With the revised PLI, it is estimated that 15% of the eight million households nationwide are living below the line. So the government needs to have long-term plans to reduce this to a level that will not be socially destabilising.