Nitish and (above) Ramesh

New Delhi, Sept. 23: A proposal of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for setting up an independent commission to conduct a below poverty line (BPL) survey has found support of the Union rural development ministry amid controversy surrounding the poverty estimate of the Planning Commission.

Nitish has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, opposing the Planning Commission’s estimate that 37 per cent people in the country should be considered in such category.

The Bihar chief minister has also demanded that the Centre should set up a “BPL Commission”, as an independent body like the Election Commission, which will conduct the BPL survey from time to time.

“I support the demand of the Bihar chief minister. If the BPL survey is conducted by an independent commission, it will check any interference by the government or any political party,” rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Nitish had written to the Prime Minister in July, opposing the present method of BPL census, which seeks to use certain criteria to find poor families, whose percentage has already been finalised by the Planning Commission.

Nitish had demanded rollback of the Centre’s decision to conduct the BPL census according to the pre-determined cap. He had said that the BPL families should be identified on the basis of survey of their socio-economic condition.

As suggested, like the Election Commission, the BPL Commission too will have to finalise criteria to select poor families and will undertake the survey to prepare a BPL list of eligible persons.

“I have already discussed this proposal with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. I will take it up with the Prime Minister soon,” Ramesh said.

The rural development minister yesterday had written to Ahluwalia for reconsidering the pre-determined cap on BPL.

At present, the BPL households constitute nearly 70 per cent of the total households in Bihar. Of the 1.6 crore rural households, 1.13 crore have been issued BPL cards after the 2002 BPL census. Around 25 lakh households will lose their BPL status if the ongoing BPL census sticks to the poverty estimate of the Planning Commission.

The Centre has launched the BPL and caste census across the country from June this year. It is expected to get over by December. The last BPL census was held in 2002.