Urban Poor

The Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has not prepared a National Policy on Urban Poor. However, the Ministry is implementing the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) which aims at providing gainful employment to the urban unemployed and under-employed poor, through encouraging the setting up of self employment ventures by the urban poor living below the poverty line, skills training and also through providing wage employment by utilizing their labour for construction of socially and economically useful public assets.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, with a view to have authentic identification of those below poverty line, Government of India has launched the combined Rural-Urban Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in June, 2011 throughout the country in connection with determination of the number of urban poor. The States/UTs have initiated the survey work with financial and technical support of Government of India.

Kumari Selja said, the survey work under SECC is being carried out by the State/UT Governments and its completion depends on the mobilization of the necessary technical and personnel resources by the respective States/UTs.

The Minister said, in order to evolve a uniform methodology for identification of urban BPL in the context of the 12th Plan, the Planning Commission, in May 2010, constituted an Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Professor S.R. Hashim to recommend the detailed methodology for identification of BPL families in the urban areas. The criteria for identification of urban population below poverty line will depend on the report of the Expert Group.