Lok Sabha Question No. 5474 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-28
Subject: Criteria for Identification of BPL People
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: PANKAJ CHOWDHARY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5474 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2018

## CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFICATION OF BPL PEOPLE

## †5474. SHRI PANKAJ  CHAUDHARY:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a)  the details of the criteria set to identify the families below the poverty line in the country;
- (b)  whether the cases of partial attitude in exclusion of the families under BPL category and inclusion of ineligible families into this category have been taken into cognizance by the  Government;
- (c)   if so, the details thereof and the action taken in this regard;
- (d)   whether the Government is likely to issue any guidelines to include the eligible families into BPL category; and
- (e)    if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) to (e ) Ministry of Rural Development provided financial and technical support to the States/UTs for conducting the BPL Census to identify the families living Below Poverty line in the rural areas who could be targeted  under  its  various  programmes.  The  last  BPL  Census  for  the  Tenth  Five  Year  Plan  period  was conducted in 2002 using the methodology of score based ranking of rural households for which 13 socioeconomic indicators/parameters/criteria were used on the recommendation of an Expert Group constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development.

In 2011, in place of BPL, the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) was conducted by  the  States  /  UTs  with  the  financial  and  technical  support  of  the  Government  of  India  through  a comprehensive  programme  involving  the  Ministry  of  Rural  Development,  the  Ministry  of  Housing  and Poverty Alleviation, the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner (ORGI), Ministry of Home  Affairs  and  State  Governments  /  UT  Administrations.  SECC  2011  includes  three-step  process involving  13  (thirteen)  Automatic  Exclusion  parameters  for  identifying  not-poor  households,  5  (five) Automatic Inclusion parameters for identifying poorest of the poor households and 7 (seven) Deprivation Criteria for identifying poor households. The SECC Data at 'Draft stage' was placed in public domain and was displayed prominently in Gram Panchayats for inviting claims and objections during Gram Sabhas. The claims and objections received were examined by the appropriate authority in district. Based on decision on claims and objections, the SECC Draft list was finalized in each District by District Authority. The SECC facilitates evidence based information and better targeting of benefits to the intended people.  Ground truthing and validation of beneficiaries' data is got done in Gram Sabha. To maximize the outcome of Government expenditure  on  rural  Development  the  Government  has  revamped  governance  framework  which  has increased  transparency and  accountability. For  transparency  and  accountability  citizens  have  been empowered to monitor programme and up-keep of assets created under the rural development programme through Mobile applications, namely, 'Meri Sadak' and 'Gram Samvad'.

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