Explanation

Option B is correct: Official poverty lines in India (estimated historically by the Planning Commission under the Lakdawala and Tendulkar Committee methodologies) are pegged to the monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) required to afford a standardized basket of goods and services:

– Because retail price levels, interstate transport costs, and local cost of living vary substantially across different states, the nominal expenditure needed to purchase that identical consumption basket differs from state to state.
– Consequently, official state-specific poverty lines are adjusted using state-level Consumer Price Indices (CPI-AL for rural and CPI-IW/UNME for urban), resulting in higher nominal thresholds in states with higher price levels.

Hence, the difference is driven because price levels vary from State to State — Option B.