The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet Thursday decided to include families with no adult members between 18 and 59 years, those headed by women, or whose head has a disability of 50 per cent or more in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
Families that worked for at least 100 days under the MGNREGA in the previous financial year and families whose earning members are suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, muscular dystrophy, thalassemia or any other condition resulting in permanent disability will also be included in the BPL category, as per the decision approved in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Himachal Pradesh currently has 2.66 lakh BPL families. The inclusion of families in the category is based on the guidelines set by the Union Ministry of Rural Development. The criteria approved by the Himachal Cabinet is in addition to the Centre’s list.
The Ministry of Rural Development says a family owning less than one hectare of land; not having a large permanent house; not paying income tax; not owning any vehicle; having no regular income from salary, pension, or wages; having no member employed in a regular or contractual government or private job can be included in the BPL list. The ministry also adds that such families’ income should not exceed `2,500 per month.
State Rural Development Minister Anirudh Singh said that the state has revised the criteria of annual income: “Now families with annual income upto Rs 1.11 lakh will be included in the BPL category. The earlier criteria, as per Centre, was `30,000 per annum… At present, there are approximately 2,66,304 BPL families in the state. The number will remain around the same.”
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