The census of poor is intended to ascertain the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population in order to ensure that the benefits of the government’s targeted subsidy programmes and other welfare measures reach the ones they are meant for. The caste and religious headcounts are being carried out in accordance with the promises made by the UPA Government in Parliament to different political parties during the monsoon session last year.
The headcount is going to be paperless with the enumerators for the first time using a handheld device developed by Bangalore based Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to enter digital data after visiting households in both rural and urban areas of the country.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave approval for conducting the BPL census in rural and urban areas. The census will begin in June and end by the end of this year. The enumeration of people in different caste and religious groups will also be carried out simultaneously along with the BPL census, the Cabinet decided.
“The BPL census would pave the way to identify the households living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas of the country. Its result will be utilized in the 12th Five Year Plan,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika SoniSoni told journalists after the Cabinet meeting.
Soni said that the BPL census would be conducted by Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in association with the Registrar General of India
The last BPL census was carried out in 2002, but this is the first time that the urban poor would also be enumerated. This is also for the first time that a caste census will be carried out in independent India. The last caste census was done in 1931.
The BPL census data would be used for the targeted subsidy schemes and welfare measures of the Government, as well as the ‘Aadhar’ programme of the Unique Identification Authority of India.
The Government, however, is likely to keep the individual caste and religion data confidential, while overall figures may be used in policy planning and released in the public domain, if required.
“This completely fulfils the assurance given by the government in Parliament to have caste-based census along with the socio-economic profiling. Political leaders demanded this (in Parliament),” said Soni.
The Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party made a strong case for caste-based census in Parliament during the monsoon session last year. The Bharatiya Janata Party also joined the clamour. The Government buckled and the Prime Minister made an assurance to consider the demand. A Group of Ministers later decided the modalities to carry out the caste-census.
The households that had already been enumerated during the recent census would be revisited by the enumerators to do the socio-economic as well as caste and religion based profiling. They will be carrying the BEL’s handheld devices, each of which cost approximately Rs 3900. About six lakh such devices would be required for the process.
Division
Sources said that the rural population would be divided into three categories, including exclusion of those above poverty line and automatic inclusion of in the BPL category.
The last category would enable identification of the targeted population by using seven parameters (or deprivation indicators) and ranked accordingly.
The parameters include households with only one room, those without any adult member between 16-59 years of age and no literate adult above 25 years.