Plan panel may rework poverty criteria

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has indicated that the Commission may reconsider the criteria for determining the poverty line following the recent controversy over fixing the income limit at Rs 32 per day per person in urban areas and Rs 26 per day per person in rural areas.

Speaking to mediapersons after inaugurating India’s first Multi Skill Development Centre (MSDC) and laying the foundation stone for its building on Monday, Ahluwalia said that the Commission had constituted a technical group to advice it on whether there was a need to reconsider the poverty criteria.

He said that there were many aspects to determine poverty status, including consumption and access to amenities, and that the technical group would go into all these and suitably advice the Commission.

Ahluwalia allayed fears that the recent poverty criteria fixed by the Commission would deprive food subsidy to a large section of the people.

 The government can continue food subsidy for the vulnerable sections apart from the BPL families. The Food Security Act was also on the cards to take care of the issue, he said.

RTE Act

Replying to a question on the effective implementation of the Right To Education Act, Ahluwalia said the greatest challenge before every state was to recruit trained teachers.

Earlier, inaugurating the MSDC - a joint venture of the Central and State governments with technical assistance from Germany at a cost of Rs 40 crore Ahluwalia said skilled personnel were an integral to inclusive growth and to achieve nine per cent growth in the 12th plan.

+Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge and State Labour Minister B N Bache Gowda were present.