The State government is considering revising the rules to include families in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, Food Minister K.H. Muniyappa said here on Thursday.
Responding to questions by Rajesh Nayak Bantwal in the Legislative Assembly, he said that around 73% of the population of Karnataka had been declared BPL and was now getting the due benefits.
āThe Union government, however, believes that going by the strength of our economy, only around 45% to 50% of the population should be considered BPL. It has introduced new guidelines for identifying BPL families. The Union government has, therefore, removed over 7.76 lakh families from the list of BPL families. BPL ration cards, called priority cards, have been turned into Above Poverty Line (APL) cards, now called non-priority cards. We have got several complaints from citizens and peopleās representatives against this move. We are of the opinion that the Central norms need to be changed. We are asking officials to study the rules and find out ways to relax them or revise them,āā he said.
As per rules, any family that earns over ā¹ 1.2 lakh per year, or the gross turnover is ā¹ 25 lakh per year, holding land of 7.5 acres or more, owning light motor vehicle or other vehicles, government or non-government employees who are taxpayers, were not considered BPL families.
āBut we find that even manual labourers who earn ā¹500 per day, cross the limit fixed by the Centre. Some legislators have complained that some families who have taken loans for business or house construction are forced to pay taxes and that those who operate taxis or commercial vehicles have been barred from getting BPL cards,ā he said, adding that officials had been asked to review such cases and issue fresh BPL cards in 15 days.
He said he would write to the Union government to revise the guidelines.
Published ā December 18, 2025 08:52 pm IST
