Gujarat's BPL cut-off a 'mockery' of poverty: Cong

Congress slams govt for setting line at Rs 10.80; BJP figures based on Plan Panel's own statistics

The fact that the Gujarat government has determined Rs 10.8 a day for  rural areas as the cut-off for the poverty line in the state has raked up a controversy.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government for its “mockery” of poverty, the Congress reminded the Opposition party of how it had trashed the Planning Commission's poverty line cut-offs of Rs 32 and Rs 28 a day in urban and rural areas, respectively, as a “joke”.

On Monday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram questioned the “hue and cry”at the commission's figure.

Earlier in the day, the Congress held a special press briefing berating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and demanded he “apologise” to the poor for "insulting" them. All India Congress Committee communications department chief Ajay Maken asked, "If earning below Rs 32 a day is a joke, how can one describe the Modi government fixing the BPL (below-poverty-line) limit at Rs 10.8?...Leaders and spokespersons of the BJP were mocking the poverty determination figures given by the Planning Commission. Now, we ask the BJP and Modi why the Gujarat government’s civil supply department has talked about below poverty line below Rs 10.8."

In the Gujarat government’s website, it is stated families whose members’ average monthly income is up to Rs 324 in rural areas and Rs 501 in urban areas will be covered under the Antodaya Yojana. While the government has fixed the number of BPL families in the state at 1.3 million, the state has covered 2.4 million BPL families. "So as to ensure in addition to 1.3 million BPL families fixed by the government of India, the remaining 1.1 million BPL families also get foodgrain of 35 kg/month, the state government allocates foodgrains on a priority basis to such BPL families, which is made available under the APL (above poverty line) scheme,” the website says.

Figures decided by Centre's Planning Commission: Gujarat govt

Refuting criticism from the Congress and other parties on the poverty-line cut-off of Rs 10.8 a day, the Gujarat government on Monday asserted the figures were decided by the Planning Commission in 2004.

“They (allegations) are only a political gimmick to raise questions over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's growing popularity across the country and Gujarat’s growth story as a model state. The allegations are wrong. The norms, procedures and parameters to identify the poverty line are decided by the central government's Planning Commission. It is not a new list being brought out by Gujarat,” Nitin Patel, finance minister of Gujarat, and Bhupendra Chudasma, minister of food and civil supplies, told the media here.

Patel asserted despite inflation and food prices rising about 10 times since 2004, the poverty line of Rs 10.8 set by the Planning Commission had remained unchanged. "If anybody is responsible for such a low poverty line, it is the Centre," he said.

Asked what the ideal cut-off for the poverty line should be, Patel said, "Though a state government cannot decide and only the Centre can do so, it should be high enough to match inflation growth. It should be somewhere around Rs 2,000, plus or minus."