Hyderabad: State Government Plans to Raise BPL Income Limit
The State government is considering increasing the income limit for families under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. A decision on this matter is expected to be taken during the Cabinet meeting scheduled for January 4.
Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy confirmed that the proposal to enhance the BPL income limit will be discussed in the upcoming meeting. “This issue is slated to be discussed in the Cabinet meeting on January 4,” he stated in an interview with The Hans India.
Currently, the income limit for BPL eligibility is Rs 1.5 lakh annually for rural families and Rs 2 lakh for urban families. Rural families must also own no more than 3.5 acres of wetland or 7.5 acres of dry land to qualify. The government is considering increasing the income limit by Rs 50,000. If implemented, this change could significantly impact welfare schemes and other government programs aimed at helping the poor.
Officials working on this proposal have studied how similar schemes are implemented in other states, including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Odisha, and Maharashtra. Some experts have suggested adopting Gujarat’s model, where the income limit for both rural and urban families is Rs 1.8 lakh annually. States like Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu also use uniform income limits for rural and urban BPL families. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh sets the limit at Rs 1.2 lakh for rural areas and Rs 1.44 lakh for urban areas.
A Cabinet sub-committee has been working on this issue for over a year. The committee, chaired by Uttam Kumar Reddy, includes Ministers Damodar Raja Narasimha and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. They have held multiple meetings to finalize recommendations.
During the recent monsoon session of the Assembly, the Minister shared that the government plans to use data from the recent caste census survey to determine eligibility for new ration cards. Proposals submitted to the State Cabinet include recommendations based on the Sachchidananda Saxena Committee guidelines, as well as suggestions from MLAs, MLCs, and MPs. The final decision is expected soon.
