A Parliamentary panel today saiddifferent estimates of the country's poor population are"confusing" and the government should revisit the definitionof BPL (below poverty line).
"The Committee also urge the government to revisit thedefinition of BPL with the concerned authorities as they findit confusing that India's poor population rises and falls withevery statistical redefinition," Parliament's Committee onEstimates, headed Francisco Sardinha, said in its 18th Reporttabled in the Lok Sabha today.
The different estimates on poverty figures can be gaugedfrom the fact that the Tendulkar's Committee report puts thepoor population in the country at 81 million families, whereasthe Agriculture Ministry is stated to have put the number at65 million families, the Committee said.
"The Committee would like the Ministry (of Food) toclarify to this point too," the report said.
In the report "Procurement and storage of foodgrains",the committee said it observed "around 37 per cent of thetotal population falls BPL, problems of hunger is stillwidespread" even as wheat production in the country has risenby 10 times and rice output by four times in last 50 years.
"Consequently, procurement of foodgrains, maintenance andstorage of stocks and effective distribution to the peoplethrough PDS and other welfare schemes continue to be a bigchallenges faced by the government," it said.
It further said "even with bountiful of harvest of rabiand kharif crops, there has been substantial amount ofloss of 50,000 tonnes of foodgrains due to mismanagement ofprocurement as well as inadequate and faulty storagetechniques".
This has brought renewed focus on the twin challengesof feeding the poor and overhauling the procurement, storageand distribution infrastructure for foodgrains, it added.
In the report, the Committee has identified certaincritical issues such as problem of increasing food subsidycosts, complaints regarding PDS, acute storage facilitiesamong others.