63% people in Haryana below poverty line: Data

Tribune News Service

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, April 16

In a revelation that has raised eyebrows, Haryana’s population falling in the BPL (below poverty line) category is as high as 63 per cent. The government has come up with this number on the basis of family IDs or Parivar Pehchan Patras (PPPs).

Experts doubt family ID info

• As per Parivar Pehchan Patra data, of 2.86 cr population, 1.8 cr listed on 44.90 lakh BPL cards
• Experts doubt authenticity of information provided by people to avail BPL benefits

BPL cards need to be verified physically

• Self-declaration by families verified by Common Service Centre, then by BLO and finally at the ADC level
• Authorities supposed to physically verify info uploaded by families; cards issued online

According to the data of the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, the state has a total of 1,80,93,475 BPL units (persons) on 44,90,017 BPL cards (families). As per the PPP data, which was also quoted by former CM Manohar Lal Khattar during his recent visit to Hisar, Haryana’s current population is 2.86 crore.

It thus means nearly 63% of the state’s population falls in the BPL category. Officials say the BPL status is granted after a verification of the income declared by people in the family IDs. However, official sources, ration depot holders and sociologists have raised doubts over the authenticity of information provided by the people to get BPL cards.

Some depot holders say they knew many families in villages which are well off and fall in the upper middle class category. “But to avail benefits of government schemes like free foodgrain and cheaper ration, they have managed to get BPL cards,” a depot holder says.

“The situation is similar in urban pockets. Despite having good family income, people have found a way out to get into the BPL category. Some families have made separate cards so that the threshold limit of the BPL category is not breached and they get the benefits,” says another depot holder. As per the data, Faridabad tops the list with most number of BPL families, followed by Mewat, Hisar and Karnal. Both Hisar and Karnal are among the most prosperous districts of the state.

Prof Jitender Prasad, a sociologist, says apparently, the agencies which compiled the data have failed to verify and authenticate it. Even the segmental division of this data in the SC and BC communities won’t show it anywhere close to reality, he says. He says it could be possible that the data has not been verified for political reasons.

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