Census 2011 stalls BPL headcount

Census 2011 has unintentionally stalled the below-poverty-line (BPL) headcount for the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
Officials of the rural development ministry found to their dismay that the census operation clashed with their own efforts to collect data on the below-poverty-line population across the country. Left with no choice, they have deferred the process. It will now be kicked off after next April, when the second stage of Census 2011 draws to a close.

The rural development ministry has been providing financial, logistical and technical support to various states and Union Territories for conducting the below-poverty-line census, which is generally held in the beginning of each Five Year Plan, to "identify rural households living below the poverty line which could be provided assistance under various programmes run by the ministry." These include NREGA, PMGSY and the Indira Awaas Yojana. Identification of the below-poverty-line households plays an important role in selecting right beneficiaries. The below-poverty-line censuses have been so far conducted in 1992, 1997 and 2002 for the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Five Year Plans, respectively. The ministry has, in the meanwhile, decided to utilise the additional time provided to them by identifying, selecting and training the officials and volunteers who are expected to be involved in collecting and compiling the data from all the villages. The rural development ministry had on August 12, 2008, constituted an expert group, headed by Mr N C Saxena, who’s now a member of the National Advisory Council, to advise it on employing the right methodology. The panel submitted its report a year later (August 21, 2009).

The expert group, according to ministry officials, had suggested pre-testing the methodology with alternative methodologies. It has, in keeping with this, decided to undertake a pilot project to zero down on the most appropriate methodology to be employed for the next below-poverty-line headcount. The pilot project would be conducted in 260 villages, cutting across the country.