Panel asks government to speed up poverty survey

New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) A parliamentary panel has expressed concern that the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), which was to end in 2011, is yet to start in major states, and has asked the government to complete the identification of poor at the earliest.

According to the parliamentary standing committee on food, public distribution and consumer affairs, which submitted its report Friday, the Rural Development Ministry started SECC from Tripura in 2011.

Observing that states are responsible to identify the number of poor, the panel said the survey of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to identify the poor in urban areas too had also got delayed.

It is important to know of poor to ensure that over Rs.80,000 crore spent by the central government annually on various welfare schemes reaches the genuine beneficiaries.

This count is also important to decide the number of beneficiaries of the proposed National food Security Bill.