Plan panel for single set of poverty numbers

The Planning Commission today pitched for a single set of poverty numbers, which could be used both by states and the Centre.

Touching upon the vexed issue of differences between the Centre and states the number or poor people, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia said, "There should be a national poverty line... I know it (single set of poverty numbers) does not make any political sense.... (but) it makes economic sense."

A single set of poverty numbers would make the task easier for the government to enact the proposed food security law, which would assure certain quantity of foodgrains to the eligible beneficiaries.

"6.5 crore families are currently identified as poor (BPL) households in the country. The government obligation of providing 35 kgs of food grains to poor is limited to 6.5 crore households only," Alhuwalia said addressing a meet of food secretaries here.

However, according to the information available, states have already issued BPL cards to 11 crore households, who can claim benefits under various scheme, including PDS.

"We had appointed Tendulkar Committee for poverty estimation. The committee says that the number of poor households would be close to 8.2 crore," Alhuwalia added.

He, however, said that the country will not face any problem in distributing 35 kgs of foodgrain to 8.2 crore BPL families as the level of procurement exceeds the demand.

"Our estimate is that with average level of procurement of 53-54 million tonnes in the past 3-4 years. As far as our calculation shows there would be no difficulty in providing 35 kgs of rice or wheat to 8.2 crore (BPL) households. The total comes to around 42 million tonnes," he said.