Farmers Movement Archive

Question Hour: Different per capita income figures prompt discussion in Haryana assembly

A big variation in Haryana’s per capita income figures, if one compared the income data collected under the state government’s Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) and the budget speech of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar earlier this year, prompted a discussion during the question hour on Friday.Congress MLA from NIT Faridabad, Neeraj Sharma, who had asked a question on the per capita income and per family income as per the PPP scheme, said as per the PPP database, the per capita income in Haryana was ₹61,558 while it was ₹2,39,535 as per the 2020-21 economic survey of the state.Sharma also sought to know whether the government will provide monetary compensation to citizens if the database gets breached and misused.Responding to the question, Khattar told the House that the income data in the PPP has been collected on the basis of self-declared information by the families along with the number of members. He said the verification process for income data is currently underway.As of now, about 54.73 lakh families have self-declared income of about 2.20 crore persons of their family in PPP with a total income of ₹1,35,724 crore.When calculated, the per capita income and per family income are ₹61,558 and ₹2,47,962, respectively.He said self-declared income is verified through digital medium from other available databases maintained by the central or state government and through physical verification by specially constituted committees. Verification of income is also done through digital medium with income tax database of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.The CM said the per capita income as per PPP database was different from the per capita income calculated on the basis of the gross state domestic product.Officials later said the PPP database still does not have the income statistics of the entire population and people with high net worth may not have come forward to share their income details as the PPP enrolment is voluntary.Khattar, meanwhile, told the House that about 2.20 crore persons (of about 2.54 crore) in state have given their signed consent by registering themselves for PPP till August 18.He said the PPP database serves as metadata for distribution of all government schemes, subsidies, services and benefits.Presently, integration of government schemes, subsidies, services and benefits with PPP is being done and the work is likely to be completed in the next three months.Upon integration, it will be possible to provide citizen services proactively anytime, anywhere without the need for documents as the data available with PPP database is pre-verified, he said.When Congress MLA from Tosham, Kiran Choudhry raised the issue of security of this database, the CM assured that the data is completely secure.“It is neither used for any other purpose nor shared with any private agency. The data in the PPP database is stored securely on the government cloud. The only portal works on an authorised user basis and no one has been given open access to the data stored,” he said.‘136 FIRs registered against farmers protesting farm laws’The Haryana government on Friday told the House that 136 first information reports (FIRs) have been registered till date against the farmers protesting the three central farm laws.In a written reply tabled in response to a question by Congress MLAs Bharat Bhushan Batra and Jagbir Malik, the government said two FIRs have also been registered against the farmers under Section 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).This information was tabled in the assembly during the question hour on behalf of state home minister Anil Vij who did not attend the House due to health problems.

Hindustan Times

20-08-2021

Chandigarh