BPL census set to begin next month

Some members felt owning a two-wheeler,for instance,should not be considered an exclusion parameter given that a sizeable rural population did own two-wheelers.

Another member said pucca houses should be excluded for hilly regions as this was the norm in such areas.

The enumeration on caste and religion has been clubbed together and enumerators,for the first time,will use low-cost devices that looks like an IPAD to feed information that will subsequently be downloaded to a main computer.

“The exercise will begin in June and end by December this year,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the meeting.

The data on caste and religion will remain confidential while the BPL data for urban and rural poor will be utilised for the 12th Plan and the targetted subsidy schemes.

The identification of the urban poor is being carried out for the first time.

Under the exercise,the rural population will be divided in three categories,including exlusion and inclusion criteria. The third category would enable identification of the targetted population by using eight parameters and ranked accordingly.