(a) whether the Government has assessed the increase in the living standards of the families of people
living Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the country;
(b) if so, the methodology followed by the Government for assessing improvement in their living
standards; and
(c) the specific schemes implemented to improve living standards of BPL people?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)
(a) to (c): Consumption expenditure continues to be basis of estimation of poverty in the country.
Based on the Expert Group Methodology (Lakdawala Committee) on ‘Estimation of Proportion and
Number of Poor’, the poverty is estimated from a large sample survey of household consumption
expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) after an interval of
five years approximately. It has been estimated that the head count ratio of consumption poverty has decreased from 36 % in 1993-94 to 27.5% in 2004-05.
For alleviating poverty in rural areas, the Government is implementing a number of
programmes including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) which guarantees 100 days wage employment to all the rural households in a
financial year. Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is a holistic self employment
generation programme under which rural poor are organized into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and are
provided assistance through a mix of credit and subsidy to set up self employment units. The rural poor are also provided financial assistance for construction of a house under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY). Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) and Total Sanitation
Campaign (TSC) are the other programmes being implemented for the persons living Below
Poverty Line (BPL) in rural areas of the country. Building rural infrastructure through Bharat
Nirman primarily aims at improving the living conditions of rural masses. Swarna Jayanti Shahri
Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) is being implemented by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty
Alleviation to provide self employment to the urban poor. The implementation of poverty
alleviation programmes is monitored by the respective Ministries and the impact assessment studies are also carried out from time to time to get the feedback. The micro level impact assessment studies sponsored by Ministry of Rural Development reveal that the implementation of the poverty alleviation programmes have a positive impact on the income levels of the poor and have resulted in improving their living conditions through better access to employment opportunities, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health facilities and education facilities, etc.