Mission Poverty Free Sikkim well within reach, announces DESME Director

RMDD SURVEY UNDERWAY TO IDENTIFY BPL FAMILIES SO THAT SCHEMES CAN BE TARGETED MORE EFFECTIVELY
GANGTOK, 09 April: The mission of the State Government spearheaded by Chief Minister Pawan Chamling to make Sikkim a poverty-free state is well with reach, stated Director General cum Secretary, Department of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring & Evaluation, SD Tshering, while addressing media-persons here last Saturday.
To support this projection, the DESME Director highlighted data recently released by the Planning Commission of India on poverty levels for 2009-10. As per this data, poverty level has come down by nearly 20 per cent in Sikkim in the five years, dropping from 31.1 per cent in 2004 to just 13.1 per cent in 2009. The national average for number of households below the poverty line stands at 30%.
On poverty in Sikkim, Mr. Bhutia informed that statistics reveal that poverty levels were at the highest in Sikkim in 1977-78. This high-water mark, he said, was probably reached because of a surge in influx immediately after the merger of 1975. Poverty levels have been showing a downward trend ever since, but the drop has been most substantial under Mr. Chamling’s governance, he highlighted.
“The substantial decrease in poverty levels indicates that the pro-poor schemes, economic development and the subsidies of the State Government for the underprivileged are clearly having a very positive impact and are working,” he remarked and added that while poverty levels in other Northeastern States was going, it was not only firmly under control in Sikkim, but also aggressively declining.
What is even more celebratory about the latest data is that not only has poverty gone down, but per capita incomes have also been on a steady rise, he added.
While there is an obvious correlation between per capita income and poverty levels, it has been the consistent growth of the state economy that has proved beneficial, he explained, adding that if the trend continues, the Mission Poverty Free Sikkim was well within reach.
The dream of the Chief Minister to make every citizen a Lakhpati will also be realised very soon, the Director added, pointing out that the Per Capita income in current prices for the year 2010-11 already stands at Rs. 92,808.
The Secretary further informed that the Planning Commission data provides only figures of poverty and does not identify the people subsisting below the poverty line. For this, the Rural Development & Management Department was conducting a separate census in Sikkim so that schemes and projects for the upliftment of the BPL families can be targeted more effectively, he informed.