KOCHI: The controversy ridden Socio-economic Caste Census 2012 is again in the news, of course, for all the wrong reasons. It seems the efforts of the Civil Supplies Department to re-classify the APL (Above Poverty Line) and BPL (Below Poverty Line) categories for the allotment of ration cards would go awry, thanks to the enumeration process. With the new census coming into force, there will be a whole new list to contend with.Authorities at the Department fear that they would have to start the classification work from scratch once the caste census results are published. “It will topple the entire system we have managed to establish till now,” a highly placed official of the Department said.“It is certain that there will be a huge disparity when the new list is compared to the list which we have been following in the state so far. Thus, the categorisation will prove to be an arduous task,” he said. Sources at the Civil Supplies Department revealed that the current categorisation of APL and BPL sections in the state has been done on the basis of the survey conducted in 2009. “It has been three years since the list was published. There was no renewal after that. Owing to this, there exists no correlation between the list prepared based on the new survey and the previous one. “ “Besides, though the survey was conducted in 2009, the state government did not take any steps to issue ration cards. The existing discrepancy coupled with the introduction of a new list will pose too many problems,” the sources said. Citing an example, a highly placed official in the Civil Supplies Department said, “Ernakulam has 1,07,000 BPL cards. But about 2,65,000 households had been identified to put under this category. With the new Census results coming into force, this list will undergo a complete overhaul. To add to the trouble, the Centre is yet to increase the food quota for the state,” he said. District administration officials also admitted that they are straining every nerve to sort out the APLBPL cards, following the instructions issued by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy during his mass contact programme in Ernakulam district. District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth said that a squad comprising the Village Officer and officials of the Revenue Department, had been formed to look into the matter. According to sources, the system being followed in the state has been faulty right from the beginning.“The classification of the population into APL and BPL categories began in 1998. But irregularities cropped up even before the system was fully implemented. No corrective measures were taken to rectify the anomalies,” they added.
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