After a long gap, it seems some sense of responsibility has returned to BJP. Poking fun at the government claim that only 21.9 percent people are really poor, which is based on an oxymoronic formula of the Planning Commission under which only those living with less than Rs 27 are poor in the villages and Rs 33 in cities, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel has sent money orders of Rs 33 each to prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Plan panel head Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, challenging them to spend a day on the amount. Goel said this is BJP's way of protesting against Planning Commission's criteria that anybody whose consumption of goods and services in excess of Rs 33 in cities per day is not poor. Sticking to its earlier controversial way of calculating poverty figures, the Planning Commission had Tuesday said the number of people living below the poverty line has shrunk in both urban and rural areas. "We strongly condemn the twisted figures used by the Planning Commission to claim shrinking of poverty. The criterion taken as a poverty line benchmark in the urban centers is laughable," said Goel.
"I am challenging them to try and spend a single day on Rs 33 if that is what is the benchmark for poverty line. It is yet another cruel joke by this insensitive government. I do not think that anyone in right frame of mind can agree to government's calculation that Rs 33 per day is enough for an individual to live in a city like Delhi," he said. As per the Planning Commission, the number of people living below the poverty line has shrunk to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 on account of increase in per capita consumption.
