New Delhi, October 2
Wanting to put a lid on the raging controversy over the Rs 32 per capita per day poverty line definition given by the Planning Commission, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia met the plan panel Chairman and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today and is expected to clarify on the issue tomorrow.

Having returned from a 10-day foreign visit only yesterday, the Planning Commission deputy chief’s meeting with the Prime Minister was the first one since the controversy erupted after the plan panel filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that that persons consuming items worth more than Rs 32 per day in urban areas and Rs 26 in rural areas were not poor.

According to reports, during the meeting that Ahluwalia had with the Prime Minister, the issue was discussed with the latter of the view that the plan panel must clarify before the controversy rakes up further. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had also reportedly asked the plan panel to do a rethink on its definition of poverty.

As per the affidavit, a family of five spending less than Rs 4,824 (at June, 2011, prices) in urban areas will fall in the BPL (Below Poverty Line) category and the expenditure limit for a family in rural areas has been fixed at Rs 3,905. The number of poor entitled to BPL benefits, as per the affidavit, has been estimated at 40.74 crore, as against 37.2 crore estimated at the time of accepting the Tendulkar Committee report.

Planning Commission officials are apparently of the view that providing benefits to more persons would defeat the purpose of the anti-poverty programme.

Ahluwalia is also scheduled to meet Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday to discuss the issue.

The controversy rakes up also due to the opposition of plan panel’s views from the members of the National Advisory Council (NAC) who have challenged the definition.

NAC member Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander have all opposed the the Rs 32 per person poverty definition of the Commission. NAC is headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Some of its other members, including N.C. Saxena, too have ridiculed the plan panel’s definition of poverty line. Saxena said, "On Rs 32 a day, you know only dogs and animals can live."

He further said, "People who are spending below Rs 32 (a day)... They are poorest of the poor. You can call them destitute, you can call them people living in sub-human level."

Reacting to the controversy Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had said yesterday, "The Planning Commission had given an affidavit. When we asked for information from the panel regarding it, we were told that it is an initial document and not the final document."

She had further said, "These figures could undergo a change, who knows some other statistics may come up, which is acceptable to the Planning Commission. There is concern among people. There is a certain disquiet in the civil society and some sections. They believe the statistics are perhaps somewhat removed from reality."