Facing flak from all quarters for the arbitrary Rs. 32 per capita per day poverty line definition, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia today revealed that he has hired consulting major McKinsey & Co. to help the Planning Commission define the new poverty line.
Announcing this move, a pensive Montek said “The Rs. 32 poverty line may have been scientifically determined, but it clearly isn’t in line with what the people think. But then we have to draw the line somewhere, so we decided not to take any chances and call in the best management consulting professionals to help us manage this problem,” in what is clearly a volte face from his earlier position.
However, insiders reveal that Monty’s change of heart may have less to do with the public reaction and more to do with Aruna Roy’s challenge to Monty to try to live on less than Rs. 32 a day. Monty, seemingly provoked by Aruna’s insolent challenge, pushed the entire Ahluwalia family into a 3-day experiment where each member would attempt to limit his or her living costs to Rs. 32 a day. Determined to prove that at least one person in his family can live for under Rs. 32, Monty was vindicated at the end of the 3rd day when Nemo Singh, his pet goldfish managed to live for under Rs. 32 (Tiger Singh, Monty’s doberman, unfortunately, was fed a few chicken pieces too many). His joy, however, was short-lived when the next day the fish was found dead in the little glass pot, forcing Montek to rethink the entire issue.
The deal was stuck the following day, when a dejected Monty was chatting over tea with Anupam Puri, his old friend and the Managing Director of McKinsey India, about the Rs. 32 controversy. Anupam suggested that Monty use his firm’s help in defining the poverty line and further offered to “do it for 5″. An excited Monty immediately agreed, adding that the price of Rs. 5 lakhs was quite reasonable. When Anupam laughed and told Monty that he meant 5 Crores, Monty nearly slipped from his chair, and sprayed a mouthful of tea all over his guest.
However, Monty quickly apologized and eventually accepted the proposal when he realized that Rs. 5 Crores was less than 0.000001 % of the national GDP. “After all, Nandan is asking for 14,000 crores for his silly UID scheme; 5 crores for redefining the poverty line more rigorously is surely worth it,” remarked Monty, who will call this new line the ‘Full Monty Line’.
Starting mid-October, McKinsey will deploy a team of 4 consultants over a 15-day period, who would travel to various Indian cities and conduct Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with a sample set of slum dwelling households. The insights from these discussions will be captured in a 300 slide powerpoint presentation and presented to the Planning Commission at the end of the engagement period. The team has begun preparations for the assignment, and has apparently already put together 250 slides of the final presentation.