JAIPUR: In Rajasthan, strong opposition is emerging against the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department's Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Garibi Mukt Gaon Yojana. Besides critics and activists, the special feature of this opposition is that in the cabinet meeting, the minister of the department and one of the senior stalwarts of the BJP in Rajasthan Kirodi Lal Meena, raised questions on this scheme and registered his strong objection.
Meena said that government assistance should be given to those families who are needy and who do not have pucca houses. He also reportedly questioned the wisdom of the move to give money as incentive to those people who are well-off and are not included in the BPL. There is no point in wasting money on ineligible people, Meena is said to have asserted according to sources.
Under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Garibi Mukt Gaon Yojana, the government has recently made a provision of Rs 300 crore to provide better livelihood to families living below the poverty line.
According to the list of BPL Census 2002, the survey was conducted in the first phase from April to June 2025. 122 villages were selected from each district in 41 districts and a total of 30631 families were surveyed in 5002 villages. Shocking figures came out in the survey. 72 percent of the selected families--22076 families--have by now come out of the poverty line.
The state government claimed that the families above the poverty line are out of BPL. The question is that the BPL list belongs to the central government and according to this list, the benefits of many schemes like food security schemes are being given. In such a situation, will these families who have come out of the poverty line continue to get the benefits of central schemes or not?
According to the first phase survey report, 6524 families are living below the poverty line. Out of these, 122 families do not have electricity-water connection, let alone food to fill their stomach.
758 do not have money for treatment and 726 families do not have gas connection, 1580 families do not have land lease, 1277 have house, 1056 have toilet. At the same time, 728 families are not getting pension.
Each family coming out of the poverty line is given an incentive amount of 21 thousand and a self-reliance family card. In this way, the government has to give a total amount of 46.35 crores to 22076 families as incentive. The department has also paid the amount to many families. 77545 families from 5000 villages have been identified for the second phase survey. This phase will be completed by December.
It is a different matter that this disagreement of the minister was not recorded in the meeting, but the fresh opposition of Meena, who has been a headache for the Bhajan Lal government for a long time, has again created a stir in the power corridors from Jaipur to Delhi.