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Questions and Analysis of BPL Survey 2002
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BPL Survey Questions and Analysis BPL survey and LSS-Prayas effort |
Questions on Below Poverty Line Survey In the year 2002-03 a survey was conducted for preparing the BPL list wherein each family was asked thirteen questions and scores or numbers were allotted to each answer according to the replies. The 13 questions that were asked are noted below. For example, for question 1 “How much land do you own?”, the following scores are allocated for the answers below None – 0 points < 1 bigha – 1 point 1 to 2 bigha – 2 points 2-5 bigha - 3 points 5+ bigha -
4 points So for the 13 questions, the maximum score can be 52. The idea
behind the questions was that the poor will get low score and the rich will
get the highest score. Below Poverty Line Survey Questions Q1: How much land do
you own?
The Guidelines issued by the state Government at A close look at Schedule suggests
that unless a person is properly trained, errors would invariably creep in
to the disadvantage of the poor. Indeed, the guidelines issued by the Government
of Rajasthan at (a) Question Number Four: This question relates to round the year Food Security. The five responses range from ‘less than one time’ to ‘adequate food’. The typical response we encountered was “We eat bread twice and pulse or vegetable once”. Where
do place such typical response on the five-point scale? They have nothing
else to add to their diet in normal times. Can we consider
these families eating ‘adequate food’ even ‘once a day’? My answer would be emphatic
“NO”. The poor Bheels stand as losers in the
BPL Census 2002 on this count vis-à-vis richer landed and well-fed families as both have scored almost the
same, by and large, three on this question. Table 7 shows that 88 per cent households
with average monthly income below Rs 250 have
substantial food. In our estimates the total Table 7: per cent households reporting round the year food security in Chittorgarh
Question Number Eight: The question relates to ‘Labour Status’ of a household. Barring
stray exceptions, most of the poor labouring households
work on irregular wage employment opportunities at a wage that is much less than
the legal minimum wage. During our survey we did not find a single exception
to this all pervasive social reality. The reported daily wage ranged between Rs 30-50 per day as against minimum wage rate of Rs
73/- per day. How much score do we assign to a household who survives on such wages? The Supreme
Court ruling on legal minimum wage does not leave any point of ambiguity.
Such a person’s fundamental right guaranteed under the Article 23 stands violated
and is presumed to be working as a forced labour.
Accordingly such household should be given ‘zero’ score on account of this particular question.
In the official survey, this primary aspect has been completely overlooked and the
surveyors, in a most perfunctory way, have assigned rankings in a mechanical way
putting most of the poor labouring households, especially
the poorest of the poor Bheels in the area, to debilitating disadvantage. Table 8 shows the comparative
rankings is selfexplanatory. Table 8: Labour status of the households in Chittorgarh (per cent)
Question Number
Nine: At times, this relatively simpler and straight forward question on ‘source of livelihood’ has also been found to be
mis-interpreted and responses wrongly recorded hiking the total scores of poor
labouring families. We came across mistakes involved in casual labour
has been given highest score of four then the typical response of ‘koi
bhi kam kar
lete hain (we do any available
work)’ was recorded as ‘other’, hiking the score of the respondent
by maximum on account of this question. (d)
Question Number Ten: This question on ‘Status of Children’ (5-14 years, any
child) is so designed that if a small poor household decides
to send the only 7 year child to school than the household stands to lose by getting
maximum score on this question. This is obviously on the assumption that a poor
household who needs help under BPL scheme is either unaware of the importance
of education or will not send the child to school to prove his point that he
is really poor. Indeed, simply put, this question is perhaps most ill designed and
has lived its life and needs to be deleted forthwith or should be redesigned. (e)
Question Number Eleven: This question is about the indebtedness of the household. None of the possible five responses in relation
to the question matched with a good number of responses we recorded. The responses
included in the Schedule presume that there is no poor household without some
sort of indebtedness and the only households without indebtedness are
the ones that are well endowed. We were therefore in a dilemma as to where de
we place such households especially given their extremely poor resource base?
A comparison between our scores and the scores of the initial BPL Census
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