Jairam questions Plan panel’s methodology
Following the controversial affidavit of the Planning Commission on below poverty line (BPL) cap in the Supreme Court, the minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh has questioned the plan panel’s methodology and in place has suggested three options to solve the problems.
The plan panel’s BPL cap has (those spending `32 a day in urban areas or `26 a day in villages would no longer be deemed poor) triggered controversy, with parties questioning its rationale. Mr Ramesh too in his letter to the deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that relying on its estimate to arrive at cut offs would not resolve the problem.
Apparently referring to the ongoing socio-economic and caste census, which has exclusion and inclusion criteria to arrive at data for determining BPL population, Mr Ramesh has suggested three options to deal with the issue. He has written that the Plan A could be such that there should be no single BPL list or card. He has suggested that in place there should be an exclusion criteria and all the non-excluded households be part of one main list with subsidiary lists for specific programmes.
Clearly stressing that the ongoing BPL census is more important than the cap suggested by the plan panel in the affidavit, Mr Ramesh has explained that based on various deprivation level people could be identified to get the benefits under various schemes of the government. It has been learnt that Mr Ahluwalia too has responded to the letter giving details of pros and cons of three options as suggested by Mr Ramesh. Mr Ahluwalia is learnt to have stated in his letter that “there is no necessary connection between a fixed poverty line and eligibility for the subsidised food”.
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