 Poverty alleviation has been a driver for India's Planning Commission's Task Force on Projections of Minimum Needs and Effective Consumption Demand of the Perspective Planning Division.This division, in 1979, took into account differences in calorie requirements for different age groups, activity levels, and sex.They determined that the average rural dweller needed around 2400 calories, and those in urban areas required about 2100 calories per person per day.