The Committee has been formed with a view to determine the exact Below Poverty Line (BPL) population in the state and rectify variations which have arisen as a result of adoption of different figures by various departments.

According to the government order, in urban areas like Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Town Area Committees and Notified Area Committees, a joint verification will be conducted by a team of officers of CAPD, Housing and Urban Development and Revenue Departments for the purpose.

It has been further ordered that the persons, who figure in both the lists of CAPD and Rural Development Departments, will be retained as persons or households entitled to BPL related benefits. The persons who figure in only one of the lists will be subjected to further verification by the Committees to be formed by virtue of the order.

The Committees will adhere to the criteria approved by Union Ministries of Consumer Affairs and Rural Development Department to determine future status of such persons who figure in one list only.

As per this criteria, households headed by widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support are entitled to be in the BPL category.

Widows, terminally ill persons, disabled persons and persons aged 60 years or more, single women and single men with no assured means of subsistence or societal support are also eligible to be retained in the BPL list.

The criteria also provide for inclusion of all primitive tribal households in the BPL category. However, the tribal beneficiaries under the expanded AAY should be in proportion to the tribal population in the State.