Dynamic poverty list to help target aid……….Amiti Sen
NEW DELHI: The new BPL census will have a big automatic inclusion and exclusion component, which is expected to make the list more credible, addressing the allegation that targeted benefits for the poor are cornered by the undeserving.
A credible BPL census will be key to the implementation of the food security act being finalised by the government. While the new poverty lines suggested by the committee headed by S D Tendulkar will give the cut-off number of the poor who will be entitled to subsidised food, the census would identify those poor.
The rural development ministry and the Planning Commission have decided to accept NC Saxena panels recommendations of a rank-based system including automatic inclusion and exclusion of poor families while running pilots in all states in the country, Planning Commission member Mihir Shah has said.
The final methodology will be decided based on the results of the pilot projects and may have certain state-specific variations, Dr Shah said.
While the methodology clearly states criteria which will lead to direct exclusion or inclusion of households in the BPL list, remaining rural households will be scored for ranking purposes based on social and economic vulnerability.
There will be designated marks for different categories such as landless agricultural workers, self-employed artisans and fisher folk, SC/ST, designated most backward classes and muslims, minorities and OBCs.
The BPL Census of 2002 was criticised for using a faulty methodology based on a questionnaire with several irrelevant questions carrying equal marks. The respondents were classified as poor if they scored below a certain level. It resulted in several wrong inclusions and exclusions of the genuinely poor.
We are in a situation where the Supreme Court has rightly questioned the (veracity) of the existing BPL list. Since 2002, we dont have a list of poor people, Dr Shah said, adding that the government does not want to repeat the situation. We dont want that to be repeated.
There will be involvement of states, civil society and experts, so that everybody feels they are stakeholders, he added. The questionnaires, too, would be short and simple with no controversial queries.
There would be consultations with states before launching the pilots to address specific areas of concern. There may be communities in certain states that are greatly disadvantaged and should be automatically included while other factors may prevail in other states.
The state consultations will begin next month following which pilots will begin. The pilots will run for a period of one month, Dr Shah said, adding that the government was trying to fast track the whole process.