BPL Family Full Form
What is the full form of BPL?
BPL stands for Below Poverty Line, a benchmark used by the government of India to identify households who are incapable of earning enough or bearing their expenses on a day to day basis. And, thus government assistance can be planned for such families. In India poverty estimation is done by expenditure level or income level. Earlier planning commission used to assess poverty but now NITI Ayog has replaced planning commision and it itself estimates poverty with the help of NSSO which collect data. NSSO refers to the National Sample Survey Office. The poverty estimation is done to integrate the beneficiaries with different welfare schemes. Many schemes and policies are introduced by the government to help these people, living below poverty line.
What is BPL?
The expanded form of BPL is Below Poverty Line. It is an economic standard set by the Indian government to identify the lower-income people in a community who need assistance from the government. The government has set an income limit. Families whose income is below the standard set by the government falls inBPL category.
History of BPL
In 1962, the task force of the planning commission proposed a minimum amount of expenditure required for livelihood. According to this commission Rs. 20 per person in rural communities and Rs. 25 per person in urban communities are required for livelihood. Schooling and healthcare will be given by the government.
Then after 1970, the criteria were further modified by the government for the baseline of BPL, as Rs 49.1 per person in rural communities and Rs. 56.7 in urban communities.
From 1993, the definition or standard for placing a person into BPL category would be different for different states, some groups of experts divided the definition of the poverty line into the definition of state level, in which the poverty line was specified for each state.
In 2012, the poverty line reached Rs.972 in rural areas and Rs.1407 in urban areas.
Factors Affecting BPL Status
Many factors affect the BPL criterion.Some of these factors are given below:
Age factor - the BPL calculation can be affected by the age of a person. Elderly people have more chances to lie below poverty line than a general person.
Income - income can be a factor affecting BPL, the families having less income are more likely to fall into the BPL category.
Family size - the more the members of the family, the more will be the chances to fall in the BPL category. Hence family size is also one of the factors which affect BPL.
Ethnicity - there are some areas in our country where people of a particular race or colour have more chances of falling below poverty line.
Criteria for Determination of BPL
There are many methods to determine the below poverty line. One way is doing a survey, in which we ask people how much money they need to live or the second way is by knowing the cost of necessary items such as:
House type
Sanitation
Land holdings
Clothes
Food security
Consumer durable
Infant status.
Schemes and Policies for BPL
Some of the schemes and policies for BPL are explained below:
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna - This scheme assists those people who are living below poverty line, and require assistance for constructing and purchasing houses.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act - This act provides guarantees of 100 days of employment each year to adults who are below poverty line.
The public distribution system - In this programme food and other necessary items are provided to those families who are living below poverty line.
The pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan yojana - This scheme provides bank accounts to those families who are living below poverty line.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
As per the new guidelines, families whose income is below Rs.27,000 per year come under the category of below poverty line and families whose income is more than Rs. 27,000 per year are not considered below poverty line.
Different types of poverty are - Rural poverty, urban poverty, relative poverty, absolute poverty and situational poverty.
There are three criteria to identify BPL families. These are occupational, social and vulnerable groups.
The BPL card is yellow whereas the people who are living above the poverty line have the white colour card.
BPL card is a yellow coloured card, provided to those people who are living below poverty line and some necessary items such as rice, wheat and other food materials are provided to these people.