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Journalism of Courage
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is happy that his stand on poverty has been vindicated by national and international experts after a three-day international conference on poverty at Patna. Armed with the “consensus statement” of the seminar, Kumar now wants to build pressure on the Centre to fulfil his demand for a higher allotment of foodgrain and kerosene oil under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
“Independent experts have vindicated my stand. Now, I will send copies of the report of the seminar to Chief Ministers of all states as well as the Prime Minister. The Centre can reject my demand but how can it set aside the opinions of renowned experts on the issue?” Kumar told reporters on Monday. Kumar said he will also meet the Prime Minister and urge him to accept his genuine demand. By sending the report to heads of all states Kumar also hopes to rope them in for his fight with the Centre.
Taking on the Centre, Kumar said household survey on a 13-point index fixed by the Centre for determining BPL families had yielded a much higher figure of the poor in the state while the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data is much lower. “What is the point in carrying out a BPL census when the Centre does not recognise it and uses the NSSO figure to decide allotments of foodgrain and kerosene oil? The census is carried out on the directive of the Centre and therefore the Centre should accept it and decide the allotments,” Kumar argued.
He is questioning the Centre’s criteria since the BPL census in Bihar has yielded a much higher figure of rural poor families than 65 lakh decided by the Centre based on NSSO figures. Kumar feels that there are at least one crore BPL families in the state and the Centre should make allotments based on it.
