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Proposing a new “empowerment line” that aims to measure the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfill eight most basic needs, McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that 680 million Indians, or 56 per cent of the population, lacks the means to meet their essential needs. Health care, drinking water and sanitation between them account for nearly 40 per cent of the gap between their current status and the ‘empowerment line.’ In a new research report released on February 19 2014, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the research arm of the consulting firm, created the new line by estimating the economic cost per capita to meet a minimum requirement of consumption of eight basic services — food, health care, education, sanitation, water, housing, fuel, and social security — and “others’ that included entertainment and clothing. Using sector-specific norms for each parameter, this worked out to an average Rs. 1,544 per capita per month. MGI then estimated the value of government services reaching the household at Rs. 208 per capita per month. Adjusting for the State-delivered goods and services, the ‘empowerment line’ was set at Rs. 1,336 per month. In 2011-12, this left 56 per cent of the country below this line, nearly 1.5 times the number of people that India’s official poverty line classifies as poor.