Sushma: Reject poverty figures
Reacting to the Planning Commission figures of poverty, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday blamed the government since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was leading the planning body.
She even appealed to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was present in the House, to reject the figures. She asked, “Is it possible to live, educate kids and feed your family with Rs22.50 a day in rural areas and Rs28 in urban areas? I urge you to join the House in asking the government to reject the figures.”
Calling on the government to be more realistic, she said, “Come out with new norms that define poverty in this country realistically.”
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav too trained his guns against plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. In a scathing attack, he said, “People living in air-conditioned rooms” have no understanding of poverty in India, pointing to an estimate that 65 per cent of people were living below poverty line with no access to potable water and electricity."
Later, Mr Mulayam Yadav said that Dr Ahluwalia should be fired. He said, “The Prime Minister is responsible as he is the chairman of the commission. He should remove the deputy chairman from the post.”
Mr Basudeb Acharia of the CPI(M) lamented that the figures put forward by the Planning Commission
tends to underestimate the level of poverty in the country. Mr Arun Kumar of the Congress accused
the Opposition of attempting to mislead Parliament.
He pointed to the fact that the figures were per capita, and not for the entire family. The estimate for a
family is Rs4,824 a month for the urban areas and Rs3,905 for rural areas.
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