Last Friday, two persons were killed and at least six persons were injured when police opened fire at people protesting irregularities in preparation of the below poverty line (BPL) list in Matihani block in Bihar’s Begusarai district.

The coupon scheme is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s brainchild to streamline the public distribution system (PDS) for the poorest of the poor and plug leakage which, according to a Planning Commission study, is estimated to be over 50 per cent in the state. Under the scheme, every BPL family is handed coupons to obtain subsidised grains and kerosene oil from the local PDS shop. Part of the coupon is to be kept by the PDS shop-owner — this will be the basis for his allotment by the government next month.

But an investigation by The Indian Express in Patna district, including Sadisopur where nearly 500 people stormed the local Urdu primary school building on March 1 and looted coupons — shows that genuine BPL families are being left out of the scheme because of irregularities in the BPL list which decides who gets the coupons. While names of the genuinely poor have been struck off, many from the above poverty line have made it to the list. Consider these:

• Basgit Chowdhury, a resident of Kanhaulee village of Sadisopur panchayat, figures in the corrected BPL list. A retired Armyman, he lives in a pucca house and draws a pension of Rs 2,500.

Yet he has been awarded a score of just 1 point in the BPL survey — in effect, he is one of the poorest of the poor. Like Chowdhury, Madan Prasad, who too retired from the Army and lives in the village, is also in the list. Both say they never petitioned to be included in the BPL list. “I don’t know how my name has made it to the list. This shows how faulty this new list is,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.

... contd.