To woo 'aam admi', UPA govt extends BPL schemes

Continuing its efforts to woo the general public after a doze of controversial economic reforms and fuel price hike, the prime minister’s office (PMO) has asked all the ministers to revise the criteria for  beneficiaries of social schemes. The government wants to extend to the “aam aadmi”(common man), schemes that were so far meant only for the population below poverty line (BPL).

Official sources here say that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had asked prime minister Manmohan Singh to extend government schemes to the common man, instead of limiting them to the BPL category. Sources close to the Congress general secretary say he had shared his personal experience with the PM after touring the country.

“Whenever he refers to government schemes during his interactions with public, he is told they are excluded from the benefits because it was meant for BPL only,” they said.

The PMO directive said that since many people who do not fall under the BPL category and yet require welfare schemes, they must not be deprived.

According to sources, there is a realisation that the recent economic decisions have hit the middle class badly and their anger was being used by the opposition to target the government. Sources said it was an attempt to go beyond the BPL category and maximise benefits to the lower middle class as well.

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has already taken the lead by asking his ministry to immediately move beyond the BPL category in schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana and the National Social Assistance Programme. These schemes cobver old age pension, maternity benefits and grants in the event of the death of the primary breadwinner.

The ministry of food, consumer affairs and public distribution has been asked to have a single category of beneficiaries in order to do away with the red tape and unnecessary procedures and  classification of the beneficiaries under the BPL category.

The government feels that the recently announced Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme would also help the middle class to improve its hard earned savings. “The maximum investment permissible under the scheme is up to Rs 50,000 and the investor would get a 50 per cent deduction of the amount invested from the taxable income for that year,” says the details of the scheme.