The Hindu : National : Spurt in U.P. urban poor

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Sunday, Oct 29, 2006
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Spurt in U.P. urban poor

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: "Garibi hatao" in Uttar Pradesh may well remain a pipe dream considering the alarming increase in urban poverty across the State. The ratio of urban poor in the last five years has gone up to 33 per cent from 29 per cent at the turn of the 20th Century. Compared to this, the number of persons living below the poverty line in the rural areas, or the rural poor, has declined from 29 per cent to 26 per cent.

With the thrust on poverty alleviation, U.P. had proposed bringing the ratio of urban poverty down to 15 per cent and rural poverty to 10 per cent in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012). With the State also proposing a targeted growth rate of 12 per cent at the end of the 11th Plan, a reduction in urban poverty was crucial to the Government's plans to record a quantum jump in the growth rate. The growth rate target in the 10th Plan (2002-2007) was fixed at 8 per cent. According to planners, the growth rate at present is around 5.8 per cent, which is likely to go up to about 6 per cent in the last year of the 10th Plan. An in-camera meeting held on Friday between Member, Planning Commission, in charge of U.P., Kirit S. Parikh, accompanied by Adviser, Planning Commission, Harish Chandra, and State planning officials reviewed the State's proposals for the 11th Plan.

Informed sources said the Planning Commission officials were apprised of the targets fixed for improving health services, expanding the education net and bringing down the dropout ratio to zero per cent by 2012, and reducing poverty, particularly in the urban areas.

The rise in urban poverty was attributed mainly to migration to town areas, or the "rural-urban" shift of population. Plan estimates have it that on an average the urban migration was around 5 per cent, enough to cast a heavy burden on the urban economy, given the paucity of jobs and civic services.

"While the poverty alleviation programmes in the rural areas saw an intervention of Rs. 5,000 crore annually in the form of funds for the schemes, for the urban poor money spent on uplift schemes added up to about a hundred crore," said a Planning official.

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