SK Modi demands 'automatic inclusion' of Mahadalits in BPL

Bihar deputy chief minister SK Modi today demanded that the Centre should ensure 'automatic inclusion' of Mahadalits in the nation-wide survey of BPL families.

"Most Mahadalit families are homeless as well as landless and should be automatically included in the BPL list," Modi said in a press statement.

Alleging that the Centre was 'insensitive' towards Mahadalits, he said that the Centre should set up a BPL Commission on the lines of the Election Commission to ensure a correct and foolproof list of BPL families.

He said that the Tendulkar Commission formed by the Centre had accepted that 57% of the families were BPL families, while the N C Saxena Committee estimated that 75% of families belonged to below poverty line in Bihar.

The state government conducted a survey on the basis of the fixed guidelines and identified 1.5 crore BPL families in Bihar, he said.

The capping of the number of BPL families in every state by the Centre and Planning Commission in the light of recommendations of the Tendulkar Commission was unjustified, Modi said.