Food security as per govts poverty estimates: EGoM

In a move that is bound to trigger angry reactions from the states,the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has decided that the estimation of the Below Poverty Line....

In a move that is bound to trigger angry reactions from the states,the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has decided that the estimation of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) numbers by the government would be considered final for the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA),thereby nipping in the bud the problem of various estimates put forth by different committees. However the EGoM has not clearly defined whether the existing poverty numbers based on the NSSO survey 2004-05 would be the final number or fresh estimation or different bases by experts would be considered.

In effect,the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) in its meeting on August 6 has squarely rejected the various BPL figures being put forth by various states,which is bound to fuel anger among them. The group was of the opinion that implementation of the Act would become difficult if poverty estimation was kept open-ended and it was not possible to have separate estimation for the implementation of the Act.

The Planning Commission has estimated that the number of persons living Below the Poverty Line stood at 36 per cent in 1993-94 at the all-India level,which declined to 27.5 per cent in 2004-05. The plan panel reasons that state-wise there were large variations and if 2009 population estimates were accepted then the total number of poor families would come down to 5.91 crore families. In 2007,the Arjun Sengupta committee had said that 77 per cent of Indias population was living below the poverty line,earning less than Rs 20 per day.

Adding a new dimension to the BPL estimates,in June 2009,the N C Saxena Committee sponsored by the Rural Development ministry to fix criteria for quantifying the BPL population had estimated that 50 per cent of the population was poor. The Saxena Committees estimate matched the number of BPL ration cards issued so far 10.86 crore households. As per the estimate,10.87 crore households will have to be issued cards in the new estimation to start from January 2010.

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