New Delhi March 07: In order to evolve a uniform methodology for identification of urban BPL, the Planning Commission, in May 2010, constituted an Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Professor S.R. Hashim to recommend the detailed methodology for identification of BPL families in the urban areas. The final report of the Expert Group is yet to be made available to this Ministry. This was stated by Shri Ajay Maken, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), in the Lok Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Shri Hemanand Biswal, Shri S. S. Ramasubbu & Shri Partap Singh Bajwa.
The Minister further stated that Government of India has launched the combined Rural-Urban Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in June, 2011 throughout the country. The States/UTs have initiated the survey work with financial and technical support of Government of India. So far, the enumeration has been completed in the States/UTs of Haryana, Nagaland, Sikkim, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Orissa and the survey is in progress in States/UTs of Manipur, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Lakshadweep.
The criteria for identification of urban population below poverty line will depend on the report of the Expert Group constituted by the Planning Commission, the Minister added.(SP News)
