Montek for 35-kg grain a month to the poor

April 07, 2010 10:50 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 08:49 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman  Montek Singh Ahluwalia. File Photo

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. File Photo

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is pitching for supply of 35 kg of foodgrains every month at Rs. 3 a kg to the poor, up from 25 kg proposed under the new Food Security Act.

“Not unreasonable if it is for the poor”

It is not wrong or unreasonable to increase the quantity. “This will be costlier but if we are doing it for the poor, it will not be unreasonable,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a CII-organised interaction with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner here on Tuesday night.

Dr. Ahluwalia's remarks came a day after the Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, asked the Commission to provide an exact definition of Below the Poverty Line (BPL) families which are entitled to a specified quantity of rice or wheat every month.

As for the Suresh Tendulkar Committee report on measuring poverty, he said: “We are examining it. We will certainly prepare an estimate of BPL households on the basis of the Committee report.”

The government, he said, would have to decide which data to use while providing the needy food security: the poverty line fixed in the 2004-05 survey or the one to be obtained from the ongoing survey (2009-10) or from a new census (2011).

“The Tendulkar Committee has suggested some increase in the poverty line for rural areas. I don't think it is unreasonable.”

The 2004-05 survey put the number of BPL families at 6.5 crore. It would increase to a little over eight crore, if the methodology suggested by the committee was taken in account.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.