Patna, July 31: The state would have its own figures of people below poverty line (BPL) by October-end to identify the target group to be covered under the Food Security Act and other schemes meant for the poor.
Sharing this information with The Telegraph on Wednesday, rural development department minister Nitish Mishra said: “The problems plaguing the ongoing Socio-economic and Caste Census, 2011 has been addressed. The implementing agency would soon resume work to complete the remaining task.”
Mishra has written a letter to the Union rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh, on July 30 drawing his attention towards the slow pace of the census work because of non-payment of dues to Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) — the firm carrying out the census work in Bihar. A copy of the letter was released by the minister’s office today. The payment to this agency has to be made by the Union ministry of rural development.
Highlighting this point in his letter, the minister explained that the ECIL could not make payments to those working in the field on its behalf because the ministry did not clear its dues. As a result, the census-related work has been adversely hit.
“We have been informed that the ministry of rural development would soon release funds to the ECIL. Based on the feedback available with us, we have directed the firm to commence work quickly and prepare the final data by October-end,” Mishra said.
Unlike the Planning Commission’s latest data, which measures poverty on the basis of actual food expenditure on every individual, the poverty measurement is being done in the state on the basis of several parameters, including the type of house one resides in, land ownership, amenities in house, means of income and daily income.
The state government does not subscribe to the central figures of poverty estimates for the state. The state government claims that the number of BPL line is around 1.36 crore. The Centre has been allotting funds for executing several schemes meant for poor considering that there are around 65 lakh BPL families in the state. “The Socio-economic and Caste Census data would give us a firm ground to present our case regarding the BPL numbers before the Centre,” said a source in the rural development department.
Poverty estimates apart, the census data would also provide an authentic figure about the percentage of people of different castes in the state.
