Expressing "dismay" over no BPL census having been conducted for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) during the previous UPA government, the Standing Committee on Rural Development headed by AIADMK member P Venugopal said this led to a situation of having "no updated data about BPL" for a long span of time, "denying the targetted assistance to needy and downtrodden sections" of the society all these years.
In July this year, government released the first Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), first in eight decades that is expected to help it in effective implementation of its programmes but refrained from releasing the caste-based data.
Implementing agencies and stakeholders of SECC include
Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), Ministry of Home Affairs (Office of Registrar General of India), state governments, Union Territories and administrative and service providers from government and public sectors.
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"In view of massive and complex project of SECC-2011, the Committee has criticised the ill-preparedness on the part of MoRD/MoHUPA for undertaking the work with some experience of MoRD and nil experience of MoHUPA and have desired that proper spadework was needed on the part of staekholders.
"The Committee recommended fixing of responsibility and accountability of stakeholders for prolonged delay in conducting SECC 2011," Lok Sabha Secretariat said in its press release on the report.