Below Poverty Line (India)

Below Poverty Line is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid. It is determined using various parameters which vary from state to state and within states.
Criteria are different for rural and urban areas. In its tenth five-year plan, the degree of deprivation is measured with the help of parameters with scores given from 0-4, with 13 parameters. Families with 17 marks or less (formerly 15 marks or less) out of a maximum 52 marks have been classified as BPL [1] & [2].
Internationally, an income of less than $1 per day per head of purchasing power parity is defined as extreme poverty. By this estimate, about 45 percent of Indians are extremely poor. If the daily income per head is less than $2, then the family is described as poor and about 80 percent of Indians are poor. Income-based poverty lines consider the bare minimum to income to provide basic food requirements; it does not account for other essentials such as health care and education. That is why some times the poverty lines have been described as starvation lines.