18.4.10

37.2% BPL figure gets Plan panel nod

The Planning Commission on Saturday revised the size of the below poverty line (BPL) population at 37.2% from its earlier estimate that pegged the BPL population numbers at 27.5%. This switch will boost the number of potential beneficiaries of the food security by 1.1 crore — from 6.3 crore to 7.4 crore. The revised numbers will mean the cost of the implementation of the proposed food security law going up, more so if Sonia Gandhi decides to heed the civil society activists who want the entitlement of foodgrain per family from the proposed 25 kg per family to 35 kg. The current projected cost, computed on the basis of the proposal to provide 25 kg to every BPL family at Rs 3, works out to Rs 28,860 crore. It will touch Rs 40,400 crore if the government raises the entitlement to 35 kg per family. Even in the case of the second scenario, the burden on the exchequer would be lower than the existing Rs 56,000 crore annual food subsidy, as under the PDS system the Centre also provides some subsidised grains to those above the poverty line. The last draft of the Act has suggested that the subsidy to APL beneficiaries would be done away with under the new law. The decision puts the ball back in EGoM’s court which is redrafting the proposed bill at the moment. However, sources said there is all likelihood that new draft will be left relatively open-ended for the NAC to take the final call on the legislation. At the meeting of members of the Commission, sources informed, Plan panel member Saumitra Choudhury criticised the Tendulkar report arguing that the committee used urban poverty criteria to arrive at rural poverty figures. Other members, however, opposed the idea of having two sets of poverty figures, leading the deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to accept the37.2% figure of Tendulkar report in toto. When the crucial meeting was on, members from Right to Food Campaign reached the Yojana Bhawan demanding acceptance of the Tendulkar report, inwhat was an indication of the pressure that the civil society may bring to bear upon the government on the proposed legislation. Now the food ministry would have to take a tough call on how to address the issues raised by the state governments of the existing BPL card-holders and the concerns raised by the civil society activists over independent monitoring of the scheme. The ministerial panel would also have to deal with the ‘vulnerable’ groups. While the Congress manifesto had suggested special provisions for ‘vulnerable’ groups such as the urban homeless, the bill instead took away even the existing provisions of public distribution system for the poorest of poor under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana. Now the Tendulkar ceiling would have to be reconciled with the state level poverty surveys which are expected to include vulnerable groups as a special category.

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