Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, was under attack from opposition members of the Lok Sabha, though he is not an MP and was not present to defend himself for releasing poverty data based on the 66th round of the National Sample Survey (2009-10) figures on household consumer expenditure survey.
Ahluwalia has very little to do with the preparation of the data that was made public, but it was he who became the target of the opposition fury. The data sets the poverty line at a daily per capita consumption of Rs 28.65 in urban cities and Rs 22.42 in rural areas. On this basis, the poverty ratio has been pegged at 29.8 per cent in 2009-10, down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05. The critics describe this as classifying anyone getting more than Rs 29 in an urban area as rich, and hence worthy of scorn.
“Tell this man (Ahluwalia) to resign and go away,” said the Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav. “Ahluwalia has no idea of the ground realities. He needs to be sacked, as every time he opens his mouth, things go wrong. He has never said anything good or useful.” “Shoot the poor...Give them poison...If this is how you want to end poverty?” he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sushma Swaraj, also leader of the opposition, was withering on the government’s efforts to combat poverty. “Judging by the efforts, it wants to end the poor, not poverty” she said, adding no one could agree with the figures the Planning Commission had unveiled.
She said it was wrong to blame the Plan panel, as the chairman of the Commission was none other than the Prime Minister (sitting in the House as she was speaking). Asserting that responsibility lay with the government and not the Commission, she appealed to Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling UPA coalition, also present in the House, to reject the latest estimates.” Is it possible to live, educate children and feed your family on Rs 22.50 a day in rural areas and Rs 28 in urban areas? I urge you (Gandhi) to join the House in asking the government to reject the figures.”
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said people sitting in airconditioned rooms were trotting out figures when the reality was that 65 per cent of the population was below the poverty line, who do not have access to electricity and potable water. Accusing the Plan panel of betraying the country, he said it was not possible to have a snack with Rs 32, and the Commission wanted people to base their livelihood on this amount.
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Basudeb Acharia, head of the Communist Party of India-Marxist grouping in the House, said the figures “underestimate the poverty in our country”. He asked the government to withdraw the poverty definition.
V Arun Kumar (Congress) did try to defend the government and said the opposition members were trying to mislead the Parliament. The Plan panel had already told the Supreme Court that the figures were per capita and not for the whole family — the per family figures are Rs 4,824 for urban areas and Rs 3,905 for rural areas for a month. But this cut very little ice with the MPs.
Sonia Gandhi listened impassively throughout. Earlier, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour, as the Speaker refused to suspend the Question Hour to hold the poverty debate. She later agreed to hold a short-duration discussion on it.