Government unsure how many under poverty line

The food security bill, which promises all those below the poverty line 25kg of wheat or rice at Rs3 per kg, has been hit by the most basic snag. The government is unsure how many people in India are below the poverty line (BPL).

A senior agriculture ministry official admitted that statistics on the BPL population are flawed and under dispute. “The Planning Commission figure stands at 6.59 crore, while the aggregated figures of state governments pegs it close to 10 crore,” he said.

“As this figure is important to calculate the programme’s cost, we are working out a way to reconcile the figures,” he said. Figures on poverty have been a long-standing point of dispute. The 2003 BPL census carried out by the rural development ministry, which put the BPL figure at 27% of the population, had been challenged by civil society groups in court.

“A special taskforce was set up to look into how poverty figures can be estimated,” the official said.

The bill’s financial implications are being worked out on the basis of state government figures. “We are erring on the side of caution. The formula that we have worked out is fairly simple: Rs7x25x12. We spend up to Rs10 per kg on wheat when we procure it from the market, we subtract Rs3 as the price at which we sell, therefore we give Rs7 as subsidy on every kg for 12 months in a year for 25 kg,” the official added.

“What worries us is not the uncertain financial calculation because of not having firm figures, but the fact that this right to food will be enforceable through courts. Therefore, we have to be sure of our numbers,” the official said.