BHUBANESWAR: Finalisation of the next BPL list will take another couple of years if the process initiated by the Centre to estimate poverty is any indication.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has identified 12 villages in 12 districts of the State for conducting socio-economic survey on a pilot basis to finalise methodology for poverty estimate.
The objective of the pilot survey is to collect the socio-economic profile of individual household of the select villages as per the indicators provided by the MoRD. Similar survey will be conducted in select villages of other states and the data collected from all the states will form the basis for formulating a common methodology for identification of the poor.
As teachers and Government officials are engaged in Census operation, which is likely to be over by February next, the MoRD is contemplating to rope in independent agencies to conduct the pilot survey. The issue is likely to be discussed at the next performance review meeting of the panchayati raj secretaries in Delhi scheduled for July 16 and 17.
The Naba Krushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies has been identified as the technical institution for conducting the pilot survey.
While the expert group of MoRD headed by NC Saxena was set up to finalise the methodology for selection of poor, the Tendulkar Committee appointed by the Planning Commission had recommended that calorie consumption should be the basis for the poverty estimate.
However, the Centre decided to conduct a pilot survey in select villages of all the states to find out socio-economic status of the people to decide the methodology.
While political parties are crying foul over the delay in finalisation of the BPL list, the State Government is blaming the Centre. The BPL list drawn up in 1997 is still in operation. Although the next BPL census was conducted in 2002, a revised list could be prepared due to intervention of the Supreme Court and subsequent delay in finalisation of methodology by the Centre.
The next BPL survey is due in 2012 when the Twelfth Plan period starts. Perhaps the Centre is planning to complete the exercise before the next Plan period, sources said.