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Facing Anti-Poor Label, Govt Asks Plan Panel to Revise Joke of an Affidavit

-The Times of India

 

Faced with fierce criticism over the Planning Commission’s new criteria for poverty line, the Government has asked the Plan panel to revise its affidavit.

The Planning Commission had said that that those spending more than Rs. 32 a day in urban areas, or Rs. 26 a day in villages, would no longer be eligible to draw benefits meant for those living below the poverty line. The new tentative criteria was worked out by the plan panel and approved by the Prime Minister's Office before the affidavit was submitted before the Supreme Court.

According to the Planning Commission yardstick, Rs. 32 was sufficient for cereals, pulses, milk, edible oil, spices, vegetables, fruits, cooking fuel, conveyance, education, footwear, clothes in urban areas and Rs. 26 in villages. “The poverty line at June 2011 price level can be placed provisionally at Rs. 965 per capita per month in urban areas and Rs. 781 per capita per month in rural areas. At June 2011 price level, for a family of five this provisional poverty line would amount to Rs. 4,824 per month in urban areas and Rs. 3,905 per month in rural areas,” the affidavit said.

Cornering the government on this, the Opposition dubbed the new criteria as a cruel joke. “Its like rubbing salt in the wounds of the poor by coming up with the new definition of Rs. 32 a day in urban areas and Rs. 25 a day in rural areas for those below poverty line,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said at a press conference here. The BJP also renewed its attack on the “economist Prime Minister” alleging he had failed in management of economic parameters like checking inflation.

“This Rs. 32, which is less than a dollar, included medicines, transportation and food. It does not factor in housing. So where do people live? It does not address the problem of malnutrition… This is not removal of poverty but derecognizing the poor itself,” Javadekar said.

He said the poor were already suffering because of price rise and corruption and announced that BJP will take to the streets to protest against the government on the issue. BJP, which has made corruption and price rise its twin political weapons to take on the Congress-led UPA, has dared the government for a discussion on the BPL criterion. “By defining . 965 pm in urban areas and Rs 781 pm for rural India as a benchmark of the poverty, the government has backstabbed the Aam Aadmi,” he said.
National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy had also castigated the Planning Commission's criteria saying it “reflected government's deep lack of empathy for the poor and a perspective completely divorced from reality.” She said it was aimed at reducing the number of BPL persons to reduce government expenditure on the poor. The Planning Commission has said that the final poverty lines would be available only after the completion of the 2011-12 National Sample Survey (NSS) Survey.

Congress tried to underplay the controversy, saying these were matters decided on the basis of empirical statistical data and must be left to the judgment of experts who spend considerable time analyzing such data.
“I don’t think they deserve to be dismissed out of hand as a frivolous exercise but let me equally make it clear this is certainly not the last word. All inputs of the constructive nature in this regard are welcome and if there are any conceptual reasons, then certain changes can be looked at and all this should be provided in a constructive manner to the Planning Commission,” said party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

A POOR IDEA

• According to Planning Commission, those spending more than . 32 a day in urban areasand . 26 a day in villages will be above the poverty line

• BJP renewed attack on the “economist Prime Minister” alleging he had failed in management of economic parameters

• NAC member Aruna Roy had castigated the Planning Commission's criteria saying it “reflected government's deep lack of empathy for the poor and a perspective completely divorced from reality.”