By IANS,
New Delhi:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday termed as “absurd” the Planning Commission’s defining urban poor as one earning Rs.32 per day or less and accused it of “trying to mislead the Supreme Court”.
Facing flak over its poverty estimate from social activists and members of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, the Planning Commission Monday said it will submit a fresh affidavit before the apex court looking into the issue.
“The Planning Commission is totally confused and has no understanding of poverty or price rise and is trying to mislead the Supreme Court,” senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters.
Raising the issue after Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that the poverty line was not linked to welfare schemes, Joshi said: “If the revised poverty estimates of the government are not linked to social welfare benefits, why was the government conducting the BPL survey.”
Defending the Planning Commission’s poverty estimates, its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the government will submit a fresh affidavit before the Supreme Court.
He said the plan panel would try to update poverty estimates, currently pegged at 37.5 percent of the population, keeping in mind the suggestions made by the National Advisory Council.
Ramesh too had raised objections on the poverty estimates.
Joshi said the differences between Ramesh and Montek over poverty estimates indicates the government doesn’t know the difference between poverty and deprivation.
Montek said the government would also take note of the bottom line cases once data from the ongoing BPL survey is available.
Joshi said during the National Democratic Alliance rule 1998-2004, the government ensured enough foodgrains for the poor during years of drought and earthquake in Gujarat.