In a People’s Democracy article on the BPL census, CPM leader Brinda Karat criticises the retention of the concept of ranking based on questions and says that given “narrow automatic inclusion” criteria, the rural poor will be marked poor or non-poor through a ranking system. She points out that the numbers of the poor in each state have already been decided by the Planning Commission “on the basis of their dubious estimates” while the rural development ministry and its provincial counterparts identify who is to be included.
She argues that an easily verifiable exclusion category for the BPL census would be “unexceptionable” given the reality of social and economic inequalities in rural India, and the existence of the rural rich, big landlords and farmers, big traders and contractors. “The present criteria seem to be geared to stretching the exclusion category to a much higher percentage than is the actual case.” Karat notes two-wheeler owners are being bracketed with tractor owners and will be automatically excluded. Similarly with owners of landline phones, when it is known that many SC/ST families or disabled persons, or others from vulnerable social categories may have a landline phone booth allotted to them in the village. “The automatic exclusion list is unfair and should be rectified... Moreover an automatic exclusion criteria makes sense only when the rest of the population is automatically included as eligible for the social security guarantee, but this is not the case in the present census,” she says.
She argues that an easily verifiable exclusion category for the BPL census would be “unexceptionable” given the reality of social and economic inequalities in rural India, and the existence of the rural rich, big landlords and farmers, big traders and contractors. “The present criteria seem to be geared to stretching the exclusion category to a much higher percentage than is the actual case.” Karat notes two-wheeler owners are being bracketed with tractor owners and will be automatically excluded. Similarly with owners of landline phones, when it is known that many SC/ST families or disabled persons, or others from vulnerable social categories may have a landline phone booth allotted to them in the village. “The automatic exclusion list is unfair and should be rectified... Moreover an automatic exclusion criteria makes sense only when the rest of the population is automatically included as eligible for the social security guarantee, but this is not the case in the present census,” she says.
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