|
Below Poverty Line (BPL) Struggle in Rajasthan -
Updates
|
|
|
BPL Survey Questions and Analysis BPL survey and LSS-Prayas effort |
Below is a report that gives the background of the struggle till Oct 9th (7th day of the dharna)
B.P.L Survey 2002: Experiences till date The process of BPL Census 2002 began in the year 2002 and the Census was undertaken in the year 2003 in the state of Rajasthan. The State Governments have been advised to identify the BPL households not exceeding the number estimated by the Planning Commission for 1999-2000 which comes to 11.89 lakh of the 86.54 lakh rural families for the state of Rajasthan [1]. With pressure from the State Govt. the number of identifiable BPL families increased to 17.36 lakhs. The process of identification however remained inconclusive due to court cases which were cleared in the latter half of the year 2005 and the process to finalize the BPL lists started again. As per the process, the households had the opportunity to contest the scores in the ward sabhas and panchayat sabhas where the scores were to be announced and pasted. If the household is not satisfied with the decision made here, they could appeal to a designated appellate officer for revision. But the local representative bodies and the Govt. officials disregarded the process and denied the households their right to know and contest the scores. When people demanded that the provisional lists be displayed in the Panchayat, they were refused [2]. Even the usage of Right to Information Act, 2005 failed to retrieve this information from the BDO and CEO, Zilla Parishad[3]. In a few ward sabha and gram sabha meetings, the BDO and CEO told the people that their scores cannot be changed[4]. This issue was raised at a meeting with State Secretaries at IDS by different public organizations and they were advised to file appeals. Following this, 7655 appeals were filed with the help of the Sangatan (KKMS) in the district of Chittorgarh. The appeals were disposed off without proper hearing and investigation and scores were never changed. Protesting this, the Sangatan launched a dharna on May 1st, 2006 at the district headquarters demanding that people should be informed their scores in the ward sabhas and gram sabhas, given opportunity to contest and proper investigation be done. A petition to the Chief Secretary of the State and the Chief Minister was submitted. The media also took notice of the issue at state and national level. At this time, the state Advisor to the Supreme Court Commissioners on food security took cognizance of the matter and held an on-the-spot inquiry in the matter in the two districts with a team. The team interviewed several people and identified anomalies in the survey and had several suggestions relating to removal of ill-designed questions and correction of processes. On the second day of the dharna, the Sangatan was promised that the appeals would be heard and re-survey would be done, but the promise was withdrawn later. As illustration here is the case of Mewda, Mungana Gram Panchayat, where the SDM of Kapasan ordered a re-survey of 185 appeals. Gram Sewak and Patwari identified 45 cases of incorrect scores and reduced them. The SDM not respecting his own order, refused to change the scores of these families and cancelled all the appeals[5]. In a meeting with the Secretaries for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj organized at the IDS on 7th Aug, 2006, the public organizations were promised that a high power committee would be established to look into the discrepancies before announcing the new B.P.L lists The State Govt. not heeding to the Advisors (to Supreme Commission on Right to Food) suggestions and not honouring its own promises released the new B.P.L lists on the Sept 15, 2006. In this new list, several poor districts, especially South Rajasthan with a large tribal population, showed huge decrease in the number of BPL families. Chittorgarh district was the worst hit with 77,111 families removed in the new B.P.L list. On the other hand, the districts of Ganganagar, Jodhpur, Badmer, Bikaneer, Hanumangarh, Jalore and Jaisalmer showed an increase in the number of B.P.L families. Protesting the Government's all pervasive careless and irresponsible attitude towards the poor, the Sangatan launched a dharna on October 3rd 2006 at the district head quarters in Chittorgarh. Till date, 1212 people representing 238 villages joined the dharna and shared experiences of B.P.L process from their villages, which happened to be very similar. A mass letter writing session to the Chief Minister and Prime Minister was organized where people sent post cards demanding that the faulty processes in the identification of B.P.L families be corrected. The Sangatan also launched a relay hunger strike on the 3rd day. It has been 7th day, but the Govt. has not responded yet. Through this dharna, the Sangatan demands that :- 1. The estimation of the number and proportion of the
poor is done by the Planning Commission based on the Quinquennial Consumer
Expenditure Surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation
(NSSO). |