2002 census to be basis of BPL lists

After a lot of debate and a court case, at least 21 states and almost all union territories (UTs) have finalised the list of below poverty line families (BPL) on the basis of the 2002 census for such groups.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Surya Kanta Patil said the ministry had issued guidelines to states and UTs to identify the BPL rural households in such a way that the number is equal to the poverty estimates of 1999-2000 or the adjusted share worked out by the Planning Commission, whichever is higher. She said another 10 per cent flexibility was allowed to account for the transient poor.

Patil said the BPL census was generally conducted in the beginning of the Five-Year Plan. However, the results of the BPL Census 2002, conducted for the 10th Five Year Plan, could not be finalised because of a Supreme Court stay.

"The stay was vacated only on February 14, 2006, after which the BPL lists were approved by gram sabhas," she said.