Garibi Hatao

Garibi Hatao was a very popular slogan of 1971 Parliamentary Elections in India. It was the time when ___ % people of the country were living below poverty line.

Many central and state government tried number of programmes and scheme to try to eradicate poverty line. The Planning Commission tried to define the poverty line. Initially it was income based poverty line, later expenditure based poverty line. 

The survey was the key to determine the poverty line. In income based formula the key rest with the surveyed who will declare the income of the family. In expenditure based formula the key rest with the surveyer who will inquire about the items of expenditure and put a score value. 

The governments will pick up suitable cut of score line to declare population below poverty line depending upon their resources and political needs. Therefore, the percentage of BPL is under the control of the score statistics. 

A family can become APL with an Indira Awas if it is near to the cut of score line, whether it’s income has increased or not.With the advancement of technology and science, the quality of life of some people is increasing. Therefore the concept of BPL has gone up from filling up the belly to getting some basic needs and services. 

The AIS officers have been provided with a servant facility with an honorarium of Rs. 1000/month. 

Normally, a maid family lives in a servant quarter of the officer, do house work and get Rs. 1000/- a month as honorarium. It is difficult for the maid family to meet the two ends with this small money, therefore if not supported by other source of money; the family may live in BPL condition. The living condition of the family is worrisome of many maid servants. But simultaneously, wives of some of the officers do join the worry of the maids and try to resolve with their unique way. 

Let me quote one such example. There is maid servant named Fuliben in Sector-20. There are four members in her family; husband, wife and two children. She was a maid servant of one of our IAS officer of the group (now retired). She was doing house work. The wife of our IAS officer was worrying about the growth of the maid family. She felt that if the maid is industrious and use her spare time in some other income earning trades, her family will have better quality of life.