Bhubaneswar: Orissa Panchayati Raj and Information and Public Relations Minister Prafulla Samal announces a new BPL list based on the survey report of 2002 will be published soon. He announces this in the State Assembly on Friday.
Replying to an adjournment motion on the issue of BPL list, Samal said the new date regarding the publication of the list would be announced during this Assembly session. He further said expenditure was made the base to identify the people living below the BPL in 1997. Later, 44.93 lakh families were identified as living under the BPL.
In 2002, the survey was conducted again taking 13 social and economic criteria into account. In the survey, 78,730,56 rural families have been identified. However, the Planning Commission has stated that 47 per cent people living below the poverty line. “If one accepts it, then the number of families would be 37.79 lakh. If one adds another 10 per cent to it, the number of family come under the BPL would be reaching 41.56 lakh,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Rural Development Department has already given its nod to include 38 lakh families under the BPL category.