The Hindu : Towards an accurate BPL survey

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

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Towards an accurate BPL survey

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 24. When Government officers are sent to villages to conduct a survey of the people living below the poverty line (BPL), all they do is stay put in the house of the `sarpanch' and write the report on the basis of what he feeds them.

This is a common practice across the country and it also happens in the constituencies of the Prime Minister and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

Little wonder then that the below poverty line survey reports are never considered authentic.

But all this may soon be a thing of the past. "This time, when the officers came for the survey, a group of women went to the sarpanch's house and wanted them to actually visit every house for an accurate survey. The men did go to the houses but the kind of questions they asked were totally irrelevant,'' says Raj Dulari. She was one of the women participants at the "Sangharsh Sabha", which seeks a new food policy to provide low-priced foodgrains and work for all.

The day-long convention was organised by the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) here today to mark 10 years of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendment.

"The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister could do us a great favour by diverting the money spent in organising rallies for setting up industries where the poor and Dalits could get jobs," says Raj Dulari.

Laxmibai of Rangareddy district in Andhra Pradesh has another story to tell. The foodgrain received under various Government schemes is either sold in the blackmarket or the sarpanchs refuse to distribute it.

"The Government has also increased the prices of the subsidised foodgrain from Rs. 2 per kg to Rs. 5.50 per kg and reduced the quantity to 4 kg per head. The result is that the people are forced to sell their young daughters, mortgage their wives or even commit suicide," she said.

The convention resolved to intensify women's struggle for a new food policy based on the universalisation of the Public Distribution System, low-priced and edible foodgrain and employment guarantee schemes.

It supported the strike call given by the trade unions on May 21 and appealed to all sections to include as an important demand the right to food and work.

Reiterating their demand for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, the participants said that the official definition `empowerment' was meaningless without addressing vital issues, the most important being the guarantee of the right to food and work for women.

Inaugurating the convention, the CPI (M) leader, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, said the Government did not seem committed to pass the Women's Reservation Bill since it had been a decade since women were given reservation in Panchayats.

"When large sections of women are struggling just to ensure the survival of their families and themselves, the full potential of 73rd and 74th amendment cannot be realised. Thus, the demand for food and work is related to strengthening the processes of democracy and women's participation," said Brinda Karat of the AIDWA.

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