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Goa redefines 'poor', raises BPL income limit

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Goa has redefined the term 'poor' by substantially raising its 'below poverty line' income limit so as to accommodate more people under the category.

All those whose annual income is Rs 25,000 or less will now be considered as belonging to the BPL category. Earlier, those earning less than Rs 11,000 per year were included in the bracket.

"This has been done with a view to extending all the benefit schemes to more people," said Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Goa is the first state in the country to take this step.

About 15 per cent of Goa's population was categorised under the earlier BPL limit. The government, however, has no figures to indicate how many more persons would now fall under the category. About 36 per cent population falls under BPL on the national level.

Parrikar opined that this would also help curb the trend of producing false income certificates to avail of benefit schemes.

Goa is one of the richest states in the country with per capita income of Rs 26,681 as the national average of Rs 15,841.

Interestingly, the rural population covered under the existing BPL was just 5.34 per cent in Goa. However, over 27 per cent of its urban BPL population was in the BPL category, due to emerging slums and migration of unskilled labour from outside/ The government had recently raised the income bar for granting scholarships to economically backward class students to Rs 200,000, bringing even a middle class family under the EBC category.

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