(a) the number of unemployed persons especially those belonging to the families living Below Poverty Line in the country as on December 31, 2005;
(b) whether any proposal is under consideration of the Government to provide employment to them;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) if not, the details of other remedial measures which the Government proposes to take in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMEN (SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU)
(a) As per information available for 1999-2000, around 5.3 crore families were living Below Poverty Line, out of which around 3.86 crore were in rural areas and 1.48 crore were in urban areas. Most of these people though working were living below poverty line. However, open unemployment in the country on usual status basis was of the order of 90 lakh.
(b & c) A target of creation of around 5 crore employment opportunities was fixed for the 10th Plan period. Out of these, nearly 3 crore employment opportunities were to come from the normal growth of the economy assuming 8% per annum growth of Gross Domestic Product and remaining two crore from special employment generation programmes. Besides this latest initiative taken by the Government in the rural areas is the launch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which aims at providing 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to each rural house hold. These measures will help the unemployed persons below the poverty line also.
(d) Does not arise.