Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service
Saharanpur, May 25

Implementation of poverty allevation programmes in Uttar Pradesh has started showing results as the percentage of people below the poverty line is reportedly decreasing.

An official report of the state government released recently claimed that the number of poor families had been declining since the past two decades. As compared to 1993-94 when the percentage of those below the poverty line was 42.2 per cent, at present it is around 36 per cent and is likely to come down to 32 per cent by the end of this financial year.

However, a World Bank report pointed out that little was done by the state government in the early 90s to reduce poverty. It said though the state boasts of rich natural and human resources, over 41 per cent of the 160 million population lived below the poverty line.

As per the Centre’s directive, an extensive survey was conducted in 1998-99 to identify those living below the poverty line. The survey showed that there were 20.4 million poor families of which 7.5 million belonged to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

The Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna, job-oriented programme for the poor, provides each self-employed family with Rs 2000 every month to help them start small enterprises. The Central Government provides 75 per cent of the grant under this scheme and the rest is shared by the state government. A sum of Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned for the current financial year under this scheme.