Gujarat, one of the fastest growing states in the country, is home to more than 31.46 lakh families living Below Poverty Line (BPL), according to details provided by the state government in the House on Friday.
Considering an average family size of four, 31.46 lakh families would translate into 1.25 crore people – roughly 20% of the state’s total population of a little over 6 crore.
Accumulated data based on information tabled in the Assembly by the government shows there were 31,46,413 BPL families in the state as of December 2017. The number of BPL families having a score of 0-16 was 16.18 lakh and those having score of 17-20 15.28 lakh.
Banaskantha district of north Gujarat was home to 2.36 lakh BPL families, the highest in the state. It was followed by tribal dominated Dahod district where over 2.25 lakh families were identified as living below the poverty line.
11 districts home to 1 lakh+ BPL families
More than 1 lakh BPL families were living in as many as 11 other districts in the state. The two central Gujarat districts of Kheda and Anand were home to 1.56 lakh and 1.53 lakh BPL families respectively, the government said in the assembly.
Ahmedabad, the state’s most populated district, had 1.44 lakh BPL families, the fifth highest among all 33 districts.
Panchmahals, with 1.27 lakh BPL families, Valsad (1.26 lakh), Surendranagar (1.25 lakh), Vadodara (1.21 lakh), Surat (1.14 lakh), Mehsana (1.06 lakh), Kutch (1.05 lakh) and Patan (1.02 lakh) were the other districts with over 1 lakh families living below the poverty line.
‘0’ more BPL families in five districts
Incidentally, the number of BPL families remained unchanged in the two-year period in a number of districts. Narmada, Panchmahals, Chhota Udepur, Vadodara and Tapi saw ‘0’ addition to BPL numbers.
Surprisingly, the number of BPL families went up by just one in Surat, which is home to an ever-rising migrant population. The number of families living below the poverty line rose by three in Mahisagar, six in Patan, seven in Gandhinagar, and 12 in Kheda.
Ahmedabad saw the number of BPL families going up 437 in the last two years, the government added.
BPL FAMILIES UP BY 19K
The number of BPL families in the state rose by 18,932 in 2016 and 2017. Amreli, a pre-dominantly agrarian district, saw increase of 4,248 BPL families, the highest among all districts. It was followed by Navsari with 4,120, and Rajkot with 3,203 families. “Instead of going down, the number of BPL families went up by 26 per day on an average in the last two years,” Opposition Congress said
