Selja raises concerns over rising BPL numbers in state

Sirsa MP Kumari Selja questioned the government about the increasing number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in Haryana and discrepancies in the self-certification of income under the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) scheme, during the Lok Sabha session.

In response, Kamlesh Paswan, Minister of State for Rural Development, explained the measures taken by the government to ensure transparency. He said the family ID was part of the Haryana Parivar Pehchan Act, 2021, under which residents provided or updated family and income details, verified physically and electronically. To maintain accuracy, the income data was cross-checked with government records.

Paswan stated that essential commodities, such as free food grains and subsidised oil were distributed to BPL and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiaries using Aadhaar-based biometric authentication. Fair Price Shops (FPS) use Point of Sale (PoS) devices to ensure that only verified individuals received the benefits. He also highlighted that the stock and sale registers of all FPSs were publicly available on the Aadhaar-enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS) portal.

Regarding the significant rise in BPL beneficiaries, Paswan clarified that the government ensured welfare benefits extended beyond the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). This ensured that no eligible family was excluded from schemes.

Despite these clarifications, Selja criticised the government’s response, calling it unclear and incomplete. She accused the government of not providing detailed replies to her queries. Selja expressed concern that nearly 70% of Haryana’s population now fell under the BPL category.

“If Haryana is truly a progressive state, how has poverty increased so much?” she questioned, adding that she would write to the Central government again, demanding a comprehensive explanation.

According to the state Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs Department, the state has seen a sharp rise in poverty. In December 2022, the BPL population was 1.24 crore, but by November 2024, the number had increased to 1.98 crore, with Haryana’s total population around 2.8 crore.