**Bhubaneswar:** While the Union Rural Development Minister of State Ram Kripal Yadav has stated in the Lok Sabha recently that the rural BPL population in Odisha is 1.26 crore as per the 2011-12 SECC, the Panchayati Raj Secretary of Odisha informed media on Tuesday that the department has no information of a composite BPL list made as the beneficiary in the State here is chosen as per the scheme and as per the deprivation yardstick in pursuance with the Centre’s order.
Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Odisha said, “As per the SECC-2011 data, there are 86 lakh such rural households in Odisha. Those households have been divided into three categories. In one category there are 18 lakh rural population automatically excluded, means the beneficiary to be excluded from reaping benefits of all schemes. Suppose, the household is rich and has government service holder in the family. Second category is that of compulsory included means to reap benefits from all the schemes like the primitive tribal group, destitute, etc. of five criteria. The number is about one lakh households. Then comes the category in which they have been ranked under one deprivation. Suppose having kuchcha house, household having person with disability, family member eking out living by dint of manual labour.”
On being prodded by the media persons, he informed, “A composite BPL list has been made that information we don’t have. But, we have been ordered by the Government of India that whatever scheme we implement over here in the State, we have to look into the deprivation . For instance, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. If it is observed that the person is living in kuchcha house, he/she is eligible for reaping the benefit. The prioritised list also we get from the computer as per the data fed. If the person has kuchcha house but zero house, first priority. One who has two kuchcha houses is of second priority.”
Explaining further, he clarified, “BPL depends on the extent of deprivation. If one deprivation is taken into consideration, it goes to 52%. If two deprivations, it goes up to 40%, if three deprivations, it goes up to 20%. It is up to the Government to decide on the extent of deprivations to include one person in the total BPL list.”
“As per the scheme, the beneficiary is chosen. Humbly I would like to say that I can’t comment on the discussion being made in the Lok Sabha or Assembly here. The poverty yardstick is to be fixed by the Government of India and be later passed on to us. At present, we are implementing scheme-wise beneficiaries,” the Panchayati Raj Secretary quipped.
Notably, in reply to an Unstarred Question in the Lok Sabha by Union Rural Development Minister of State Ram Kripal Yadav said that the State wise rural population living below poverty line (BPL) is 1.26 crore in Odisha as per the 2011-12 data.
The process of the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) has been concluded by the Ministry of Rural Development in March 2016. SECC data captures respondent based disclosures on socio economic status of 17.97 crore rural households which has allowed automatic exclusion of 07.07 crore (39.36%) of households as not poor on the basis of 13 parameters, automatic inclusion of 0.16 crore (0.91%) households as poorest of the poor on the basis of 5 parameters and grading of deprivation of 8.72 crore (48.54%) of rural households on the basis of seven criteria.