Question : URBAN AND RURAL POVERTY

(a) whether there is a wide gap between urban and rural poverty in the country ;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(c) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)

(a) to (c): The Planning Commission is the nodal agency in the country to estimate the incidence of poverty. Since the year 1997, the poverty estimates are based on the methodology contained in the Report of the Expert Group on ‘Estimation of Proportion and Number of Poor’ (Lakdawala Committee). The latest available poverty estimates are for the year 2004-05. As per these estimates, 28.3 % of rural population and 25.7% of urban population was below the poverty line.

Alleviation of poverty both in the rural and urban areas has been one of the main objectives of Development Planning and a number of poverty alleviation programmes are being implemented by different Ministries/Departments. These include inter alia: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, which guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to the volunteer in the rural households for unskilled manual work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA); Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) which provides self employment to the rural poor who are organized into Self Help Groups (SGHs) and who are provided income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and subsidy alongwith skill development component; Under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) the shelterless rural BPL households are provided financial assistance for construction of houses; the National Social Assurance Programme (NSAP) provides social security in the form of IGNOAPS (Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme); Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, a health insurance scheme for the unorganized BPL workers. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is implementing Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) which aims to encourage urban self- employment through subsidy and loan with a component of training for skill development and Rajiv Awas Yojana which aims to make the country slum-free. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is implementing Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), which provides food grains at subsidized rates to the poor; the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) which provides foodgrains to the poorest of the poor families at a highly subsidized rate.