Ahead of the pilot project to identify the below the poverty line (BPL) population, the rural development ministry has come out with a comprehensive list of those who will be automatically included in the BPL category and those who will be automatically excluded.

The methodology based on automatic inclusion and automatic exclusion was agreed upon by the ministry after its recommendation from an Expert Group committee, headed by former secretary N C Saxena, was accepted by states and union territories.

Those to be excluded from the BPL list include owners of land, orchard, motorized agricultural equipments/vehicles, those involved in non agricultural activities, professional tax payers, income tax payers, and those with regular electricity and water connection.

Those who qualify for the automatic inclusion includes, households belonging to SC, ST, primitive tribal groups, household with casual and attached agricultural labour, households with marginal and less than average land holdings, landless agricultural labourers, destitute households, homeless destitute households, households with minor as the main bread winner, household with main bread winner more than 60 years, household with the main bread winner having a chronic disease, and household with NREGA card holder.

The above criteria, according to the ministry, will pave the way for excluding the well-to-do households and including the poor and needy in the BPL list. The field survey for the pilot, set to commence in July, will be done by the state governments through their appointed functionaries and a competent institution will be appointed to provide technical guidance and handholding to the state to ensure that the survey is conducted in an effective manner.

The ministry will provide overall supervision, monitoring and technical assistance and guidance to the state governments. Financial assistance will be provided through budgetary provisions. It is the first time that a pilot project is being undertaken ahead of the BPL census to be launched in April 2011.

The pilot to be launched in 260 districts across the country will be finished by August and the data acquired will help in finalising the methodologies for the BPL census. Since 1992, the ministry has conducted three BPL censuses in rural areas — in 1992, 1997, 2002.