BJP today described as "irrational, unrealistic and unacceptable" the government benchmark for an individual to fall under BPL category and demanded that the amount be raised higher to put more people in the list of beneficiaries.

"BJP finds the limit of Rs 20 per day earnings for a person to be Below the Poverty Line as irrational, unrealistic and unacceptable. We will not accept this limit. Government needs to redefine poverty parameters," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Asked whether BJP and NDA ruled states were increasing the parameters for listing BPL families, Rudy said Bihar's list of BPL has more people than the Planning Commission number for BPL in the state.

"We need to redefine poverty parameters. Inflationary trends have gone so high and the Rs 20 per day figure is so nominal. More factors- related to health, education, etc- should be included to decide BPL. The poor are getting a raw deal," Rudy said.

He suggested a poverty-based census for the country.

BJP also lamented that there was no unanimity about the exact number of people who fall in BPL category with the Tendulkar committee, Arjun Sengupta committee and N C Saxena committee giving different figures.

Sengupta said 78 per cent of the people fell in BPL while Saxena put the figure at 50 per cent.