Assessment of knowledge and utilization of Below Poverty Line (BPL) Schemes among BPL families

Abstract

Background: Below Poverty Line is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold used by the Government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid 1. According to the poverty report by planning commission of Government of India headed by Shri S. D. Tendulkar constituted to estimate poverty, reported that nearly 38% of India’s population (380 million) is poor 2. The BPL cards are distributed after identifying the households based on population based surveys1.A recent study conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in six states found that 40% o f the BPL cards have been issued to people who are above the poverty line (APL).The state-level analysis suggests that the extent of misuse of BPL card is highest in Andhra Pradesh followed by Karnataka and Kerala 3.Objective:To assess the knowledge of BPL families regarding the BPL schemes by knowledge questionnaire ,assess the utilization of BPL schemes by BPL families by utilization questionnaire and to find the association between knowledge and selected variables like education, type of family, type of card they holds.Design and methods:Research approach was quantitative approach and design was descriptive survey approach. Data was collected by house to house survey.Setting:Adopted villages of Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal Participant s: 200 BPL families selected by purposive sampling method. Results:Majority (85.5%) of subjects had poor knowledge and (14.5%) average knowledge regarding the BPL schemes . The findings of utilization reveal that Basavavas athischeme (64%), and BPL ration scheme (58%) SuvarnaGramodayaYojana (4%) Swarnajayanthi Gram SarojgarYojana(19.5%), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (14%),Nirmal Bharat Abhyian (15.5%) JananiSurakshaYojana (77.8%)Bhaghyalakshmi scheme (54.2%) and old age pension (55.4%) respectively.K nowledge had a significant association between education (χ2 =11.866, p< 0.05) and type of family (χ2=4.118, p< 0.05).