Number of families in poverty rose by 19,000 in 2 years

GANDHINAGAR: In a blow to the government’s claims of socio-economic development, the number of families below the poverty line (BPL) in Gujarat increased by 18,932 in the last two years, the state government admitted in the assembly, in reply to starred questions by Congress MLAs.
The government said that there are 31,46,413 BPL families in Gujarat. If an average BPL family is taken to have five members, it indicates more than 1.5 crore people in Gujarat are below the poverty line.
According to figures given by the state government, Banaskantha has the most BPL families — 2,36,492.Porbandar district has the least BPL families: 11,040.
Paresh Dhanani, the leader of opposition, said, “The BJP government makes claims about employment and social welfare in the state, but the official figures of BPL families gives the real picture of the increasing poverty.”
Dhanani said, “The number of BPL families increased by 18,932 in two years in ‘vibrant’ Gujarat. The highest number of new BPL families — 4,248 — have been added in Amreli district in two years. In all, more than 31 lakh families live below the poverty line in the state.”
Dhanani said that the government is trying to hide the increasing number of families in poverty. “In many cases, when members of BPL families migrate to other districts, the government refuses to issue new BPL cards, to hide the number of poor people in the state.”
The LOP further said, “When the UPA was in power at the Centre, Gujarat’s then chief minister, the current PM, made big claims of increasing income criteria and changing other criteria to identify BPL families. Despite the BJP being in power in both Centre and state, there have been no such changes.”
Paresh Dhanani said, “There are complaints that many rich or undeserving people also have BPL cards and derive illegitimate benefits from them. This must be checked and the government must issue BPL cards only to people who are actually poor.”