GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 656

ANSWERED ON:24.11.2006

ERADICATION OF POVERTY

RAMDAS ATHAWALE

(a) The norms prescribed for qualification of identification of the persons living below poverty line;

(b) Whether all the States have got the census done with respect to the persons living below poverty line and have submitted the list to the Government ;

(c) If so, the number of such persons in the country at present and the number out of them belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Category, State-wise ;

(d) If not, the reasons therefor indicating the time by which the remaining States are likely to complete the same ;

(e) The target fixed by the Government for uplifting them ;

(f) The funds allocated, released and utilized under each poverty alleviation programme during each of the last three years and current year indicating the number of persons brought about poverty line, State-wise ;

(g) The reasons for not utilizing the funds fully, if any; and

(h) The further steps taken to eradicate poverty completely and to utilize the funds cent-per-cent ?

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:-

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

(SHRIMATI SURYAKANTA PATIL)

 (a)to(d) : For the 10th Five Year Plan, the Ministry of Rural Development had issued guidelines to the States and UTs to conduct the BPL Census 2002 to identify the poor families in the rural areas who could be provided assistance under various programmes of the Ministry.The number of such rural households in each State/UT was to be identified in such a way that it should be equal to the poverty estimates of Planning Commission 1999-2000 or the Adjusted Share (as worked out by Planning Commission) whichever is higher and with another 10% flexibility using the `Score Based Ranking` of rural households on the basis of 13 socio-economic parameters as recommended by the Expert Group. The results of BPL Census 2002 got delayed because of the stay order passed by the Hon`ble Supreme Court on 5.5.2003 while hearing the WP No.196/2001 in the matter of PUCL V/s Union of India. After the vacation of the stay order on 14.2.2006, the States and UTs have already been issued guidelines to finalise the results of BPL Census 2002 in a transparent manner. Most of the States have already completed the survey and the process of taking the approval of Gram Sabhas and completion of first and second appeal mechanism etc. is under way after which the data will be put on the websites by the respective State/UT.

(e)to(h) : The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing the poverty alleviation programmes of Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) which is a wage employment programme and Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) which is a self-employment programme. With effect from 2nd Feb. 2006, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is being implemented in 200 selected districts of the country under which any rural household whose adult member volunteer to do unskilled manual work is entitled for at least 100 days of work in a financial year. The programmes of SGRY and National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) in these 200 districts have now been subsumed with the NREGA. In next 4 years, NREGA will be extended to all districts. National Food For Work Programme has been discontinued in view of implementation of NREGA. A Statement indicating the Central allocation, funds released and funds utilized under these programmes during the last three years and during the year 2006-07 as available upto Sept., 2006 is at Annexure-I. The Ministry of Rural Development has put in place a comprehensive monitoring mechanism to ensure the timely utilization of funds by the States under these programmes.Sometimes instances of low utilization of funds come to the notice of the Ministry due to the reasons such as natural calamities,limited working season in particular areas, elections to various elected bodies in the States etc.

The Ministry of Rural Development conducts the evaluation studies of the poverty alleviation programmes from time to time and past studies reveal that there has been a positive impact in alleviating the poverty of the rural households. The evaluation study of SGSY for the year 2003 indicated that 37.24% individual swarozgaris and 15.09% swarozgaris of Self-Help Groups were able to cross the poverty line. The implementation of the above poverty alleviation programmes is a part of the broad strategy of the Government to tackle the poverty in the country.The latest poverty estimates which are available for the year 1999-2000 indicate that 27.09% of rural population was living below the poverty line.