Improvement of Economic Conditions of Muslims

The erstwhile Planning Commission used to estimate poverty from the Large Sample Surveys on Household Consumer Expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. These surveys are normally conducted on quinquennial basis. The latest data of Large Sample Survey on Household Consumer Expenditure has been collected by NSSO in its 68th round conducted in 2011-12. In the process of collection of consumption expenditure data from households, NSSO records the religious affiliation of the household. But the NSSO consumer expenditure data is not stratified with respect to religious groups of population. As a result, Planning Commission has not estimated the poverty ratios for Muslims and the people from other minority communities living below poverty line in 2011-12.