Below Poverty Line
Introduction
The right to food campaign has consistently opposed any restriction (“targeting”) of food entitlements to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, mainly because of the unreliable and divisive nature of this classification. On 3 October 2011, the Central Government issued a statement suggesting that it would depart from this approach, but in practice BPL targeting continues (except under the National Food Security Act, 2013, which is based on a more inclusive approach).
A Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) to identify BPL households was carried out by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) in rural and urban areas respectively in 2011. This exercise, though more professional than previous BPL surveys, is far from flawless and the results are yet to be released.
