Despite the State Government’s claims that it has taken many poverty eradication programmes, Odisha remains to be a very poor State with 32.59 per cent of its population are below poverty line (BPl) and at least 27 States remaining above it in terms of economic development.
This was revealed from the information furnished by Planning and Convergence Department Minister Usha Devi in the State Assembly recently in response to a question of BJP MlA Dilip Ray.
Ray had sought to know the percentage of BPl population living in various States, including Odisha, as per the Tendulkar Committee report.
According to the information, the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has only one per cent of BPl people while the national average of BPl population stands at 21.92 per cent. Similarly, lakshadweep, another Union Territory, has merely 2.77 per cent BPl people followed by Goa 5.0 per cent, Kerala 7.05 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 8.06 per cent, Sikkim 8.19 per cent, Punjab 8.26 per cent Andhra Pradesh (Odisha’s neighbouring State) 9.20 per cent, Puducherry 9.69 per cent, Daman and Diu 9.86 per cent and Delhi 9.91 per cent.
Percentage of BPl polulation in States like Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Tripura, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland and West Bengal remains to be between 10 and 20 per cent. Similarly, Mizoram, Karnataka, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh have BPl population between 20 and 30 per cent.
Odisha figures among the States which have more than 30 per cent poor population. While Madhya Pradesh has 31.65 per cent BPl population, Assam 31.98 per cent, Odisha 32.59 per cent, Bihar 33.74 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh 34.67 per cent, Manipur 36.89 per cent, Jharkhand 36.96 per cent and Dadra and Nagar Haveli the highest BPl population of 39.31 per cent.