Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said the committee’s recommendations will be accepted
New Delhi: A government committee has recommended issuing below-poverty-line (BPL) cards to all 4 million households in 22 backward districts that are affected by the Maoist insurgency.
The committee, set up by the rural development ministry, also recommended the inclusion in another 34 such districts of households that are headed by a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe member, or by a woman or have an elderly or disabled member. In these 34 districts, there are 10.2 million rural households.
The panel, headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, was tasked with suggesting a method for including eligible families in the government’s official BPL list for availing various government subsidies and schemes.
Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said the committee’s recommendations will be accepted.
"The committee recommends that a universal approach be adopted in the 22 districts" that the Planning Commission has ranked among the most backward in India, the panel said in its report that was reviewed by Mint on Wednesday. These districts are among a list of 82 Maoist insurgency-affected districts.
"The committee is of the opinion that at least for these (22) districts, a universal approach is desirable since not only is the poverty likely to be overwhelming, there is presence of left-wing extremism (LWE, or Maoist insurgency)," it said.
Only 2.2 million families in these districts have been included in the BPL list, the report said. "This appears too low and is prima facie evidence of at least some exclusion of the poor," it said.
In all the 56 districts that the committee cites, households that have any member paying income or professional tax, having a government job or owning a four-wheel vehicle could be subject to exclusion from the BPL list.
The recommendations come as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi is grappling with the challenge posed by leftwing extremism after an attack on the Congress party’s top leadership in Chhattisgarh by Maoist rebels on Saturday.
The attack claimed more than two dozen lives including those of Chhattisgarh state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, Mahendra Karma, the founder of the anti-Maoist civilian militia Salwa Judum, and former Congress legislator Uday Mudliyar. Former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla was critically injured in the attack and is in hospital.
The attack is being viewed as one of the worst since Maoists killed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Lok Sabha MP Sunil Mahato in 2007. The Maoist insurgency that has affected large swathes of India has often been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as India’s "biggest internal security challenge".