New Delhi, October 03: A day after he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Monday, is expected to clear the stance of the plan panel on its affidavit in the Supreme Court defining poverty line cut-offs.
The affidavit said that poverty line for urban and rural areas could be provisionally placed at Rs 965 per capita per month (about Rs 32 per day) for urban areas and Rs 781 per capita per month (about Rs 26 per day) for rural areas.
As per the affidavit, a family of five spending less than Rs 4,824 (at June, 2011, prices) in urban areas will fall in the BPL (Below Poverty Line) category. The expenditure limit for a family in rural areas has been fixed at Rs 3,905.
The number of poor entitled to BPL benefits, as per the affidavit, has been estimated at 40.74 crore, as against 37.2 crore estimated at the time of accepting the Tendulkar Committee report.
Officials in the Planning Commission have said that providing benefits to more persons would defeat the purpose of the anti-poverty programme, but not many are convinced.
Apart from food rights activists, opposition parties had also slammed the government over the affidavit.
Following the uproar, Ahluwalia said that the affidavit was “factually correct” and it was not a new policy decision but simply a factual explanation given to the apex court on how poverty lines were calculated based on Suresh Tendulkar report.
As per reports, Ahluwalia told PM that he will discuss the issue of poverty line cut-offs with plan members on Monday and then decide whether to file another affidavit to clear the air on the issue.
Ahluwalia is said to have told the PM that poverty line and identification of the poor are not linked and any change in poverty line could have huge financial implications.
Apart from convening a meeting of the plan panel, Ahlulwalia is also expected to meet Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and discuss the issue. Ramesh had sent a missive to the panel on the issue.
Although the plan panel appears reluctant to will rework the poverty cut-offs but given the reports that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has also expressed his concern over the matter, the panel may come around. As per reports, Rahul has asked the Plan panel to do a rethink on its definition of poverty.
Last week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had admitted that there was concern among people on the issue.
She said the figures could undergo a change. “There is a certain disquiet in the civil society and some sections. They believe the statistics are perhaps somewhat removed from reality,” she said.
National Advisory Council members Aruna Roy and NC Saxena have also expressed reservations over the poverty line cut offs.
Saxena said that only dogs and animals can live at Rs 32 a day and said that people spending that kind of amount were poorest of the poor.
–Agencies