In the past too Nitish had written letters to the Prime Minister and agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, seeking his attention towards the wide gap between the estimates of BPL cardholders arrived at by the state government and the Planning Commission.

In a letter written to Manmohan Singh last month the chief minister claimed that there is a wide gap between the actual numbers found in a recent household survey and the ceiling fixed by the government of India on the basis of poverty and population estimates.

While the Planning Commission puts the figure at 65.23 lakh BPL families the state government survey now puts the figure at 1.40 crore families. If one family has six members the number of people below poverty line in Bihar is more than eight crore. The total population of Bihar at present is something around 9.40 crore. Thus, according to the chief minister more than 80 per cent people of Bihar now live below poverty line.

The Tendulkar committee, however, put the figure at around 54 per cent, which is more closer to the Planning Commission figure than the state government claim.

The Centre-State dispute over the figure notwithstanding independent economists are alarmed at the sharp rise of people living below poverty line in Bihar in the last few years.

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There is still a tug of war between the Central (65.23 lakh approxmately) and the State governments (1.40 crore) regarding the number of BPL families in Bihar. The state estimate varies from central one which gets support from Tendulkar Committee report because both the figures are approximately the same. Why so much disparity in these two reports is hidden in the fact that different methods were applied to set determinants or deciding factors for BPL families. 

Faulty determinants 

The confusion is created because faulty indicators were selected for identification of such families. The fifty two point scale includes thirteen or less scoring families in BPL list. A family scoring fourteen points cannot be considered better than the previous one.   

Unknown sources of income 

There are certain unknown earning sources which none wants to disclose. For instance, almost all doctors, lawyers, bribe taking leaders and bureaucrats employ some agents and pay them for settling the amount. Lakhs and Crores of rupees are rolling in these illegal transactions. In the same way sellers of spurious liquor can never disclose their income or the police who are paid hefty sum as commission. There are thousands of give-n-take sources of income from under the carpet. Such income has gone unrecorded raising the number of BPL families. In the same way, all the illegal income of criminals is not known to anyone.   

Share cropping 

There are certain regions where share cropping by landless farm workers is a very flourishing form of occupation. The share croppers in government record are landless destitute but in reality they grow more grain than the land owners. In government records they are recorded as BPL families. 

Animal rearing 

Animal rearing (of goats, cows, and buffaloes) is another unrecorded source of income. A surveyor once told me that every one likes to conceal one’s income to get the name added in the BPL list. As no record keeper is permanently employed the survey loses its permanent benefits of value. 

Working in other states 
There are many seasonal workers who work at farms or in factories as casual workers. Their income is never recorded because they hesitate to put into picture their real income in fear of losing the benefits of inclusion in BPL families. 

Some times it has adverse effects. Rich farmers give their old and used but costly garments to these workers. Good clothes being an indicator, laborer scores a few points to be excluded from the BPL list. 

Alleviation schemes for the poor 
Schemes like House providing schemes (Indira Avas Yojna), Village Sanitation Schemes made the poor to score more because a brick house or a lavatory is enough for scoring a few points thereby to be excluded from the BPL list though their poverty scale remained unchanged. Tendulkar Committee has identified the complexity of the problem yet it is too complicated to be simplified.  

Charm for inclusion in BPL family list 
Many APL families want their family recorded as BPL one because of facilities provided to the former. This inclusion has become a symbol of political influence and dominance. The list finalizing authority makes a good fortune through this fraudulent act.

 These are the some of the factors that account for the difference of opinion between the two governments. The occupation/ s   of a family in place of its earning may be recorded. A proper way to prosecute both the recorder and the recorded for any false entry must be ensured by legislation. Lastly, the government must table a bill granting Right to Occupation for every citizen to make our nation prosperous. 
B.P. Mishra, Patna