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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | House panel seal likely for 11.5cr BPL count by Rajeev Deshpande

House panel seal likely for 11.5cr BPL count by Rajeev Deshpande

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published Published on Dec 6, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 6, 2010

The Manmohan Singh government's options on keeping a check on the bill for the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) may shrink further with Parliament's standing committee on finance likely to endorse the states' tally of BPL families pegged at 11.5 crore. 

The highly contentious issue of enumerating the poor has seen the government differ with the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), which originally considered universal PDS but later curtailed its proposal to cover at least 75% of the population -- 90% of rural populace and 50% urban. 

The political pressure on the government to make NFSA -- still in the works a year and a half after UPA-II took office -- as inclusive as possible is likely to only increase with the standing committee's recomendations. 

The tussle over the number of families to benefit by the legal entitlement to food security has seen the government moving from the Planning Commission figure of 6.52 crore families to the Tendulkar Committee's 8.34 crore. As this, too, has been challenged, the PMO has sought to buy time by setting up a panel to examine the NAC proposal. 

The finance standing committee, headed by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, may not make the government's job easier as most members feel the states' lists of BPL families should not be discounted since they are based on actual surveys. They feel these figures are genuine. Cards issued by the states are the difference between the Plan panel's 6.52 crore and the 11.5 crore figure. 

The committee is also likely to argue for transparent parameters for calculating BPL eligibility as shifting goalposts from plan to plan and even within a plan period was not advisable. 

The Centre's argument has been that the states' lists are over reported as they look to claim more subsidised foodgrains. Leaders like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar have suggested a joint survey to settle the tug of war over the number of poor. Given the political significance of NFSA, the states are unlikely to drop their claims. 

The committee is also considering whether it should ask the government to devise a mechanism to gauge fluctuations in the BPL population as a large section hovers on the poverty line. One bad monsoon or crop failure can push them below the line and they need as much assistance as BPL families. 

The government's worries centre around both the payout and foodgrain availability. It has calculated that delivering 35kg of foodgrains at theTendulkar Committee figure of 8.3 crore BPL families will add up to Rs 63,750 crore a year. It will be significantly higher if the states' lists are to be included, perhaps taking it close to Rs 1 lakh crore. 

There is also the availability of food stocks to ponder over. In 2009-10, spurred by the drought, the government procured nearly 600 lakh tonnes against a more normal 400 lakh tonnes. Going by Tendulkar Committee's estimates, just the BPL segment will need 345 lakh tonnes and if the APL category is retained, it will be 536 lakh tonnes. The total foodgrain production in India is estimated at 1,000 lakh tonnes. 


The Times of India, 5 December, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/House-panel-seal-likely-for-115cr-BPL-count/articleshow/7044808.cms


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