What do BPL families in India really need? Not millions of bucks. Not even thousands. They just need decently good diet to eat twice a day, some place to live and some clothes to cover them. Changing the scales of poverty line and claiming that poverty has been decreased doesn’t really change the lifestyle of the real poor. But unfortunately this is what happening in India. On contrary this will lead unprecedented injustice to the BoP.
Our policy makers have been struggling to identify genuine scale to define the poor since long time. But even today their attempts are in vain. Every committee comes up with new definition of poor. But nothing is standardised yet.
In the recent times there was huge debate going on the scale which determines the actual poor in country. According to the Suresh Tendulakar report, the affidavit submitted by planning commission of India, to Supreme Court, persons who spend less then Rs 26 in villages and Rs 32 in cities are considered to be the poor in country. This raised huge debates and chaos across the nation. Many openly criticized that Suresh Tendulkar report if full of blunders. Having understood the chaos it created, planning commission’s deputy chairman Montek Singh and rural development minister Jai Ram Rameh openly said that the affidavit contains the views of Mr Tendulkar only but not of planning commission. But more importantly, planning commission did not withdrew the affidavit from the supreme court, which indicates that planning commission still standing by the affidavit and it’s stupid scale which defines the poor.
The Hallabaloo
What is BPL? Taking two meals a day doesn’t make anyone to jump above BPL. What about health, education, and social wellbeing. In 2002, there was a new scale which considers 13 different aspects apart from family income, on which poverty was defined. But again there were chaos saying that number of BPL families getting benefited was low. Later Saxena committee suggested that the number of aspects should be decreased from 13. But again GoI feared that this may lead to more than half the population of India may go to BPL and consequently the suggestions of Saxena were put aside. As a result Tendulkar committee has takes income into consideration for defining BPL.
Having understood the hallabaloo it created, Montek Singh said that they would consider social, economic, caste basis to determine the poor. Meanwhile another committee would be working on defining the new scale to identify the BPL.
According to Abhijit Sen, member, planning commission, the numbers in the affidavit were sensible. Central has limited resources and so the BPL has been defined on the low income basis which could bring very less percentage of Indian population under BPL.
Next five year plan
Central and state governments should have strong determination to eradicate the poverty in their upcoming 12th five year plan. More than half the budget which spent on the BPL is not reaching the target sector itself. Even today there are many areas which are miles away from basic needs such as health and education, after spending billions of rupees in past 11 five year plans. With the corruption, ration goods are smuggled into black markets. Migration to towns has been drastically increasing which will lead to explosion of BPL families in the urban areas.
To stop all these things, our policy makers should plan strongly and should implement wisely. According to Chinese proverb, policies should not aim to feed the poor; it should help the poor to catch the food. Policy makers should understand the fact that changing the poverty scales on paper doesn’t change the lives of BPL. Every day we see many people on roads that don’t have proper diet or nutrition. But they are earning more than Rs 26 a day, it doesn’t mean that they are not poor or they are leading livelihood. State and central governments should work hand in hand to reach the millennium development goals and food security.
Our policy makers have been struggling to identify genuine scale to define the poor since long time. But even today their attempts are in vain. Every committee comes up with new definition of poor. But nothing is standardised yet.
In the recent times there was huge debate going on the scale which determines the actual poor in country. According to the Suresh Tendulakar report, the affidavit submitted by planning commission of India, to Supreme Court, persons who spend less then Rs 26 in villages and Rs 32 in cities are considered to be the poor in country. This raised huge debates and chaos across the nation. Many openly criticized that Suresh Tendulkar report if full of blunders. Having understood the chaos it created, planning commission’s deputy chairman Montek Singh and rural development minister Jai Ram Rameh openly said that the affidavit contains the views of Mr Tendulkar only but not of planning commission. But more importantly, planning commission did not withdrew the affidavit from the supreme court, which indicates that planning commission still standing by the affidavit and it’s stupid scale which defines the poor.
The Hallabaloo
What is BPL? Taking two meals a day doesn’t make anyone to jump above BPL. What about health, education, and social wellbeing. In 2002, there was a new scale which considers 13 different aspects apart from family income, on which poverty was defined. But again there were chaos saying that number of BPL families getting benefited was low. Later Saxena committee suggested that the number of aspects should be decreased from 13. But again GoI feared that this may lead to more than half the population of India may go to BPL and consequently the suggestions of Saxena were put aside. As a result Tendulkar committee has takes income into consideration for defining BPL.
Having understood the hallabaloo it created, Montek Singh said that they would consider social, economic, caste basis to determine the poor. Meanwhile another committee would be working on defining the new scale to identify the BPL.
According to Abhijit Sen, member, planning commission, the numbers in the affidavit were sensible. Central has limited resources and so the BPL has been defined on the low income basis which could bring very less percentage of Indian population under BPL.
Next five year plan
Central and state governments should have strong determination to eradicate the poverty in their upcoming 12th five year plan. More than half the budget which spent on the BPL is not reaching the target sector itself. Even today there are many areas which are miles away from basic needs such as health and education, after spending billions of rupees in past 11 five year plans. With the corruption, ration goods are smuggled into black markets. Migration to towns has been drastically increasing which will lead to explosion of BPL families in the urban areas.
To stop all these things, our policy makers should plan strongly and should implement wisely. According to Chinese proverb, policies should not aim to feed the poor; it should help the poor to catch the food. Policy makers should understand the fact that changing the poverty scales on paper doesn’t change the lives of BPL. Every day we see many people on roads that don’t have proper diet or nutrition. But they are earning more than Rs 26 a day, it doesn’t mean that they are not poor or they are leading livelihood. State and central governments should work hand in hand to reach the millennium development goals and food security.
