The BJP Thursday accused the Congress-led ruling UPA of coming out with "ridiculous" figures on poverty reduction and demanded a white paper on the steps taken by the government to check price rise, slide in the value of rupee and creating jobs.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi told the media here that the government data on poverty reduction was far removed from reality and the effort was to pass the burden of implementing food security bill on the states.
"States will identify beneficiaries under the food bill but the BPL (Below Poverty Line) population has been fixed at 21 percent and the centre would give funds to that extent. The burden of food bill is being put on the states," he said.
"We demand from the prime minister and the finance minister that a white paper be brought out and the government should list steps to check slide in rupee, stop rise in non-performing assets of banks, create jobs and curb price rise."
The Planning Commission Tuesday said the percentage of people below poverty line declined sharply to 21.9 in the 2011-12 financial year from 37.2 recorded in 2004-05.
By using the Tendulkar methodology, it estimated national poverty line at Rs.816 per capita per month in villages and Rs.1,000 per capita per month in cities. This means that people whose daily consumption of goods and services exceed Rs.33.33 in cities and Rs.27.20 in villages do not fall in the poverty category.
Joshi also attacked the government over its handling of economy and said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate could go down to four percent.
He said the United Progressive Alliance government did not have money to implement the food bill and had "defined poverty ratio according to its needs".
"I charge them with making fun of the poor and misleading the people. They have done a ridiculous thing," Joshi said.
The BJP leader said that a panel set up by the government said that percentage of people entitled to the BPL status should be drastically revised at least 50 percent in rural areas. He said the panel also noted that if requirement of 2,400 calories per day was to be met, then 80 percent people should be entitled to the BPL status.
Joshi cited another report which said there were over 10 lakh living in Dharavi slum but only 141 families have BPL cards.
He said prices have risen steeply and much more money was needed to purchase the same quantity of food material.
The BJP leader said close to 50 percent of the country's children are estimated to be underweight and there was a large proportion of malnourished women in rural India.
The World Bank data has put the poverty figure at 44 percent, he said.
Attacking the government over sliding value of rupee, Joshi said it has hurt India's prestige.
He added that the value of dollar to a rupee was Rs.8 in 1973 and has now come down to Rs.60 a dollar.
"Parents whose children are studying abroad are finding it hard to meet expenses," he said.
Joshi said the government had to make huge external payments for borrowings, and that non-performing assets of 40 listed banks have gone up to Rs.1.79 trillion.
"On the whole, there is no scope of improvement in the economy. There is fear that the growth rate may get stuck at four percent," he said.
