Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has raised the minimum income limit for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families to Rs 50,000 per month, ahead of the Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu presenting next year’s budget on March 17.
The decision was taken during the state Cabinet meeting, chaired by CM Sukhu here on Tuesday evening. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Anirudh Singh took to social media to announce the decision. “The state government has enhanced the minimum income limit for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families from Rs 36,000 per month to Rs 50,000 so as to bring more people under its cover,” he said.
In Himachal, as per 2022-23 data, the number of BPL families had decreased from 2,66,326 to 2,65,588. But, by January 15, 2024, the number had risen again to 2,66,304.
Earlier, the Cabinet had also taken the decision to include families with no adult members between 18 and 59 years, or those headed by women, or whose head has a disability of 50 percent in the BPL category.
Even the families, who worked for at least 100 days under the MGNREGA in the previous financial year and families whose earning members are suffering from chronic diseases have been included in the BPL category. The Cabinet also approved the Excise Policy for the financial year 2025-26 to increase revenue from the sale of liquor vends through auction and tender modes. The government aims to get a revenue of Rs 2700 crore by the end of March 2025 from the excise business.