Finally, new BPL list by November

BHUBANESWAR: If things go as scheduled, new BPL list of the State will be ready latest by November.The Government is readying its machinery to start socio-economic and caste census from mid-September with financial and technical support from the Centre.The State has been divided into 83,000 enumeration blocks (EBs) as per the last population census. Each EB comprises 100 to 150 households with a population of 650 to 700 persons. The household survey in each EB will be conducted by a two-member team comprising an enumerator and a data entry operator. About 50,000-strong manpower will be required to complete the survey, which includes 4,000 supervisors. The Centre will provide 23,000 hand-held machines for data entry. The enumerators will enter data on the type of house like kaccha or pucca, household assets, ownership of agricultural land, sources of income, occupation of individual members and educational qualification. If any member of a family is physically challenged, details of the disability will be collected.  For the first time in the history of BPL census, data on religion of individuals will be collected. According to the  Central guidelines, only Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists can claim the status of Scheduled Caste, while Scheduled Tribe category is for all religions.  As per the schedule, the enumeration should be completed in 45 days. The enumeration data of each day will be uploaded to the server at the block offices. After collection of household data, a draft list will be published and the list will be placed at panchayat office and another prominent location of the panchayat. Lists of all villages will also be available at the block offices. The draft list will also be published in local newspapers. Claims and objections will be invited from the public on the draft list within 21 days of the publication. The complainant should identify himself. The draft list will be read out in gram sabhas and  objections, if any, will be recorded. An officer, appointed by the district collector, will make a summary hearing on the claims and  objections. The final list will be published after a month of the publication of the draft list. There will be no change in the status of the list for at least a year, a senior officer of the Panchayati Raj Department said.