NEW DELHI: Indians choose to be labelled “poor” to avail of rationed free food, deputy chairman of India's planning commission has lamented. Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia the deputy Chairman, who virtually functions as the head of India's economic planning body, given that the post of the Chairman ex-officio belongs to the Prime Minister of the country, also said that a special technical committee would be constituted to look into the issue. . “Most of the people in India want to remain below the poverty line in order to receive food grains at subsidised rates,” Dr Ahluwalia said. He said that they would constitute a technical committee to determine who exactly falls below poverty line (BPL). India's planning commission draws up five year plans, which determine which sectors the government needs to focus its spending on. Usually a majority of the government spending is focussed on health and on poverty alleviation programs, that includes free and subsidised grain distribution targeted at those genuinely living below poverty line. People whose daily income does not reach up to a prefixed figure are classified as below poverty line. Currently India's poverty line stands at $ 0.64 per day per person in urban areas and 0.52 per day per person in rural areas. Montek has also promised to rework those figures following criticism that those who fall above the line will be denied benefits, even though they need it. Ahluwalia sought to allay those fears saying that the government would continue to supply food to vulnerable sections. “The government can continue food subsidy for the vulnerable sections apart from the BPL families. The Food Security Act was also on the cards to take care of the issue,” he said.
