Blasting the Congress leaders for taking the poor and vulnerable communities for a ride and humiliating them by defining the poor with an absurd criterion, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata party today said the Congress has not only humiliated the poor by setting up ridiculous norms for defining poor and then to add insult to their injury it has announced a Food Security Scheme which is non-implementable.
 
In fact, the rampant corruption and inefficiency has led to an increase in the number of poor in Delhi giving it another dubious distinction after being tagged as the “Rape capital” and the “Most polluted city” under Congress government’s rule.
 
Addressing a press conference, the Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel said, “As per Delhi government’s own official statistics,   the number of people below poverty line have doubled in Delhi i.e. 11.49 lakhs in 1999-2000 to 23.3 lakhs by 2009-10 which reveals the truth behind façade.”
 
 As per the Delhi government’s official statistics provided for year 2009-10, Around 23.3 lakhs or 14.2 per cent of the population is below poverty line.  In 2004-5, BPL population in Delhi was 19.4 lakhs and in 1999-2000 it was just 11.49 lakhs or 8 percent. The figures show that the people BPL are on continuous rise and this is result of anti-people policies of Congress government.
 
The BJP announced that it will hold demonstrations at the residences of all those Congress leaders who are making offensive statements against the poor by saying that the poor can buy a meal at Rs 5 in Delhi.
 
“A quick analysis done by the BJP shows that the way Planning Commission headed by the Prime Minister himself has defined the poverty line is ridiculous and on top of it the Congress leaders have the cheek to say that in Delhi, one can get food at Rs 5.”
 
The Congress government in Delhi is running a Jan Aahar Scheme in which cheap cooked food is provided not for Rs. 5 or Rs 12 but for Rs. 15. And even this becomes possible only after a subsidy of Rs. 10 on every meal. Isn’t that an enough proof that figures quoted by Congress leaders to define the poor are ridiculous.
 
Exposing the classic case of Congress doublespeak, Shri Goel said, “In fact the Tendulkar methodology under which the poverty line has been defined at around Rs. 32 for the poor in the urban areas and around RS 27 in rural areas has been rejected by the Planning Commission experts itself.  Former RBI governor and the head of PM’s Economic Advisory Council Shri C. Rangarajan has already been entrusted with the task of reviewing this unrealistic and flawed criteria on the basis of which a fake reduction in poverty data is projected.
 
The new definition of poverty line which is more realistic was expected to come in 2014 but with assembly elections for four states including Delhi coming up, Congress was in such tearing hurry that it used the flawed Tendulkar methodology.”   
 
Shri Goel said, after ridiculing the poor, the Congress has now come up with another “political fraud”. “The Food Security Scheme proposed to start from 20 August is nothing but a political gimmick. Neither the UPA government at the Centre, nor the Congress government in Delhi is committed to implement this scheme. These announcements are made to befool people. This scheme will remain on paper like many other earlier schemes announced by the Congress government such as Dilli Annashree Yojana”
 
In fact, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to distribute to the poor those food grains which were getting rotten in FCI godowns three years ago but the UPA government including the Prime Minister himself did not allow this to happen despite strong observations from the apex court.
 
And now prior to assembly and general elections, Congress is attempting this new political stunt through a food security scheme which has not been allocated required money. It has to be implemented through PDS which is in shambles. In fact, the PDS in Delhi has been termed as the second most corrupt by Transparency international. Justice Wadhwa Committee had a similar opinion as it found Delhi PDS overflowing with corruption and inefficiency.
 
 
Why  Food Security Scheme Cannot be implemented in Delhi ?
 
Centre hardly allocated any resources:
In December 2012, an expert group was set up at the instance of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) in UPA government to look into financial implications of the food security bill. . It came out with a report titled “National Food Security Bill: Challenges and Options’. The report clearly says that the financial cost of the Food Security Bill stands at Rs 6.82 lakh crore over the next three years– Rs 2.41 lakh crore in the first year; Rs 2.23 lakh crore in the second year and Rs 2.17 lakh crore in the third year. This is more than two and a half times the provision in the current fiscal year’s union budget. . Against this, the Budget provides just Rs 90,000 crore for food subsidy and Rs 2,250 crore for the National Food Security Mission. So actually there is no money to implement this scheme! 
 
The same report also points out that the proposed "Food Security Act" could be ineffective as there are huge leakages in the Public Distribution system. The research report exposes the shocking leakage under the present Targeted Public Distribution (TPD) system. It brings out that atleast 40 per cent of the foodgrains meant for poor does not reach them through PDS.
 
Now let us take a look at the  PDS in Delhi which is meant to implement this scheme but which infact is no position to do so-

• Agencies like Transparency International have termed Delhi PDS as the second most corrupt in the country. 
• Justice Wadhwa Committee found that there are huge gaps leading to rampant pilferage from Delhi PDS. 
• There are around 2.1 lakh ration cards for BPL families in the city which can cover 8-10 lakh population while their actual numbers according to Delhi govt’s own stats is more than 23 lakh. They will not get any benefit as in absence of ration card they have not been able to get Aadhar card also to which this scheme is linked. 
• A large number of APL families proposed to be covered under this scheme have neither ration card not Aadhar card. 
• More than 15.85 lakh APL (Above Poverty Line – Unstamped) card holders in the city do not get subsidized food items. 
• Majority of 11.53 lakh Stamped APL card holders have the same complaint ( An APL card holder is eligible for 25 kg wheat and 10 kg rice per month)·    
• Only 1.01 lakh Antodaya Ann Yojana (AAY) families were identified against the targeted number of 1.57 lakh AAY families, resulting in depriving 56,000 families of the benefits of the scheme. Funds available for beneficiaries remained unused as well. 
• Only 72 beneficiaries so far in Annapurna Yojana. 
• Less than 8000 beneficiaries in Dilli Annashree Yojana despite tall claims of more than one lakh beneficiaries by Congress government. 
• Out of 1100 posts in Food and Civil Supplies more than half are lying vacant. 
• PSUs like Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation busy in selling liquor through its liquor shops rather than supplying affordable items to –Delhi residents. 
• There are only 2480 FPS in Delhi to serve more than 33 lakh ration card holders. 
• Major pilferages are reported to exist in the PDS in Delhi but no corrective action has been taken so it is very likey that the foodgrains meant for the poor will be squandered away. 
• There is no clarity about overlapping of existing schemes such as Dilli Annashree, Anyodya and Annapurna with the Food Security programme.

To  consolidate as well as expand the growing popularity of Delhi Bharatiya Janata party among Jhuggi Jhopri  residents  who are completely disillusioned with the Congress government  and are providing tremendous support to the BJP , the Delhi BJP President Sh. Vijay Goel will launch a mass contact programme among JJ dwellers through a padyatra at Lal Bagh  JJ cluster (in Model Town) on Friday.
 
The mass contact programme under which thousand of BJP cadres will span out in more than 680 JJ clusters across the city is a part of party’s “outreach” strategy which has already been successfully implemented by launching similar campaigns for youth, dalits and the minority.
 
The first phase of this mass contact programme will culminate with a massive rally of JJ cluster residents at Talkatora  Stadium on August 4.
 
Addressing a gathering of   heads of JJ clusters  on the eve of the launch of the mass contact programme for JJ clusters, Shri Goel said, “ The BJP has a positive agenda for the JJ clusters  which involve providing  every Jhuggi dwelling household with a house at the place where they are residing now,  single point electricity scheme to reduce their inflated and unaffordable  power bills, a corruption free PDS, highly subsidized LPG cylinders, providing regular water supply, sewerage health care facilities and  education facilities near their doorsteps.
 
It may be recalled that Congress has failed to deliver on all these fronts for JJ clusters. The Rajiv Ratna Awas Yojana is a case in point which was meant for the poor but has remained on paper! Dilli Annashree Yojana, Annapurna Yojana are some of the other schemes which were meant for poor but did not reach them in reality.
 
There are currently more than 2.2 million people living in JJ clusters across the city. The Planning Commission has itself said in a report that the JJ clusters in Delhi are devoid of basic amenities that should have been provided by the Delhi government.
 
Shri Goel said, “During the last 15 years, Congress government has done nothing for JJ clusters. Their living conditions have deteriorated. Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board which is supposed to improve their living conditions has become den of corruption.  To cover-up scam of crores of rupees in DUSIB, the Congress government did not allow a CBI enquiry to take place in 2010.  There should be a high level probe and action should be taken against those who have pocketed money meant to be spent on the poor.”
 
The heads of JJ clusters in Delhi assured Shri Goel that millions of JJ dwellers are fed with the false promises of Congress government and they would support the BJP to teach the incumbent government a hard hitting lesson in coming assembly polls.

The Delhi Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) today strongly condemned the twisted figures used by the Planning Commission of India to claim shrinking of poverty in the country and said that Rs.33 per capita per day criterion taken as a poverty line benchmark in the urban centres is laughable.

To mark their protest against the utter lies of the Planning Commission, Sh. Vijay Goel despatched Rs.33 money orders to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. He challenged that they should try and spend a single day on Rs 33 if that is what is the benchmark for poverty line.
Hundreds of BJP worklers followed Sh. Vijay Goel and sent money orders to the above mentioned as a mark of protest.

Dismissing the Planning Commission’s claim, Delhi BJP State President Shri Vijay Goel said that government has adopted not only flawed but unrealistic formula to calculate the daily survival needs of an individual. “It is yet another cruel joke by this insensitive government. I do not think that anyone in right frame of mind can agree to government’s calculation that Rs.33 per day is enough for an individual to live in a city like Delhi. Even if we do not go into the flawed yardsticks adopted by the this government’s foreign educated economists, a common man living in this city could have told them that this is not just enough,” said Shri Goel.

The fresh poverty estimates by Planning Commission are based on controversial Tendulkar methodology that has been under scanner for fixing poverty lines that were too low at Rs.22.42 per person in rural areas and Rs.28.65 in urban areas. The Tendulkar poverty line is wholly insufficient and glaring when one looks at the breakdown of the Rs 33 packet, which includes, for instance, just about one rupee per day for health expenditure.

Following that, the government set up another committee under the chairman of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council, C. Rangarajan to look at a methodology for determining poverty lines and estimating poverty. Interestingly without waiting for the Rangarajan's report, the Plan panel went ahead with new poverty estimates giving rise to the motives behind the hurried declaration.

Shri Goel informed that the figures has manipulated by the Planning Commission by not including the figures of the National Sample Survey in  2009-10, as it was a drought year. “ Why did the government leave out this particular year when many lower middle income groups must have been pushed below poverty line due to severe drought conditions  which UPA government failed to handle?,” asked Shri Goel.

He further informed that about the calculation made by the BJP regarding the minimum requirements of a family of 5 living in a city like Delhi. Against the Planning Commission calculation of around Rs.1000 per capita per month, BJP believes that Rs. Rs.8697.75 is the minimum that is needed for a family to survive in the city with constant hike in rents, power, fuel & food items etc.

Shri Goel added that living becomes all the more difficult in this city for the poor since the Public Distribution System (PDS) of the Congress government is in tatters and hardly anyone is getting the allotted ration at subsidized rates. “The fact is that conditions of poor in the city are going from bad to worse since no relief is coming to them through PDS. Government has not only failed to provide food items to more than 15.85 lakh APL card holders in the city but also about 11.53 lakh Stamped APL card holders. Even BPL card holders are not getting regular supply,” said Shri Goel.

Amidst huge support from Dalit and backward communities in the Capital, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party President Sh. Vijay Goel today conducted a “Padyatra” in several predominantly Dalit colonies thus launching  the next leg of party’s  “Outreach” campaign  to bring more and more  Dalits in the party fold. In the earlier phase, the party had held a “sahbjoj” with more than 16000 Dalits which received tremendous response.

Sh. Goel started his “Padyatra” in Dalit abd Balmiki bastis, the first of its kind by any political leader in the Capital in the recent past, from Ranjit Nagar and visited a number of Dalit bastis in the surrounding areas. He was accompanied a a huge number of local community leaders and a number of BJP leaders including Sh. Krishan Lal Dhilod, president of the  Delhi BJP”s SC Morcha.

After the padyatra, in another unique initiative, Sh. Goel also decided to spend the night at Pandav Nagar along with a Dalit family.  Addressing the community members as well as the BJP cadres who accompanied Sh. Goel during his padyatra and night stay, the Delhi BJP President said, “The Dalits, Balmikis and Scheduled Castes have been left in the lurch as the policies of the Congress government in Delhi have benefitted only vested interests who have pocketed most of the money meant for welfare of Dalits.”

Sh. Goel said,  “ Rs 744 crore were diverted from Special Component Plan (SCP) meant for the welfare of Dalits, to projects directly or indirectly linked to Commonwealth Games by Delhi government and it ultimately reached pockets of corrupt Congress politicians and officials who indulged in unabated looting of public money  as brought out by investigations later on.”

The Chief Minister Sheila Dikshi, herself, has been strongly  indicted  for her dubious role in Commonwealth Games scam. This shows how this corrupt and inefficient government has taken Dalits and backwards for a ride.

The neglect of Dalits and backwards in Delhi duing the last 15 years of Congress’ misrule is evident from the fact that In Delhi the literacy rate of SC and Dalit population  is  at least 10-15 per cent below other communities. Among SCs and Dalits literates,  only  5.2 per cent are graduates and above. The SC/ST department  of Delhi government has utilised only Rs 130 crore out of Rs 325 crore in the 2012-13 financial year.

Sh. Goel said, “The Dalits have been treated as vote bank by Congress but as the facts reveal that their welfare has never been priority of Congress. “It is time to change this government which has taken the poor and the Dalits for the ride,” added Sh. Goel.

Elaborating on BJP’s vision for the Dalits , Balmikis and other backward communities Sh. Goel said, “After coming to power, the BJP will  run special time bound programmes to  support and encourage higher education, skill building and employment oriented training for the youth among Dalits, Balmikis and other backwards.

“The BJP has already prepared a roadmap for the economic empowerment of Dalit and other backward communities. The party will focus on special financial assistance schemes to promote entrepreneurship amongst Dalit youths.  The party will prepare “Special Component Plans” which would focus on the holistic growth of Dalits and other backward communities. And this will be done in a time bound manner,” informed Sh. Ghilod, President, Delhi BJP’s SC Morcha.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party President Sh. Vijay Goel today welcomed the appointment of Sh. Nitin Gadkari as in-charge of Delhi Assembly elections along with  Sh. Navjot Singh Siddhu.  Sh. Goel said, “I am confident that the experience and dynamism of these two leaders will help all the party cadres immensely.”

Inaugurating the first of the 280 “Karyakarta Sammelans”   being organized by the Delhi BJP, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today called upon the BJP workers to ensure that the common people who are completely fed up with the Congress rule should reach the polling booths on the day of election and cast their vote. The call during these Karyakarta Sammelans is “Majboot Sangathan, Nai sarkar” (Strong organization, New government).
 
The BJP is organizing these Karyakarta Sammelans to mobilize its   crack teams at all 11763 polling booths in Delhi. Through these meetings, the party is training its 3.5 lakh  specificially identified cadres who have been organized in more than 11000 teams. Each team has 32 members and each team is manning one particular polling booth.
 
Smt. Swaraj said, “The general mood of people is totally against Congress. The Delhi residents are fed with 15 year misrule of Congress in the city and there is a change in the offing. The BJP workers need to ensure that this change is brought by effectively converting anger of people into votes.”
 
 “The key for BJP’s victory in the coming assembly polls in Delhi is in the hands of party cadres at the grassroot level. Effective polling booth management is going to make the real difference and the current exercise by the Delhi BJP of mobilizing the party cadres through these sammelans is the right step in the right direction at the right time,” she added.
 
Addressing the party cadres which gathered in huge numbers for this first Karyakarta Sammelan, which will go on till 4 August in all parts of the city, Delhi BJP President Sh. Vijay Goel said, “The Congress government in Delhi has proved to be a disaster on all fronts be it power,water, basic services, education, health, law and order, safety of women and welfare of the vulnerable sections of  the society.”
 
“Inflation and corruption are the two evil pillars on which this government is standing and it is time that the Delhi BJP ensures that this corrupt and inefficient government is done away with. To do that the party cadres will be visiting every household in the city and they would be equipped with the facts and figures  to  explain to every household in this city , how this  scam-ridden and ineffective government  has failed to deliver on any front,” he added.
 
After the BJP will come to power, the crack teams constituted at polling booth level will remain active and ensure the welfare for every household that has been assigned to them. This would be unique initiative in terms of connecting the common people with the government on day to day basis to resolve issues concerning them effectively and in a time bound manner.

Unveiling the organisation strategy for coming assembly polls in Delhi, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party today said the party is battle ready with successful completion of its exercise to put crack teams on all 11763 polling booths in the capital.

The party is adopting "Back to the basics" philosophy in which party cadres at the polling booth level are slated to play the key role.

In the assembly poll battle, the flag bearers of the party at ground zero will be 11763 crack teams comprising more than 3.5 lakh trained and well equipped party cadres.  Tactically, it will not be the 70 odd party candidates but the 3.5 lakh strong crack teams which will contest these polls.

These crack teams and party cadres will be rallied from 19 July-4 August in 280 mandal level "Karyakarta Sammelans" which will be addressed by a galaxy of leaders from national and state.
 
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader Smt. Sushma Swaraj will inaugurate the fisrt Sammelan at Narayana on July 19 at 4 pm. The theme of these Sammelans is "Majboot Sangathan, Nai Sarkar"

Over the last 90 days, in a mammoth and unique city wide exercise carried out at polling booth level, 10,000 crack teams have already been put in place. From poll strategy point of view, Delhi BJP leadership has divided the city into around 11,763 polling booths under 280 mandals and 14 districts of the BJP. Each assembly constituency has around 4 wards and each ward is looked after by mandal where a crack team of 32 members has started working full time for the assembly polls.

Elaborating further, Delhi BJP President Sh. Vijay Goel said, "On every polling booth we are constituting a 32 member crack team. Around 10,000 teams are already in place. This task was done over the last 90 days. The team comprises of 12 BJP workers over 30 years of age, 12 BJP workers below 30 years of age and 8 women."

There are around 250 families at every polling booth. The task assigned to this 32 member team is to reach every family.  Thus every member of the team will approach around seven families over the next few months and will constantly remain in touch with them convincing them how important it is to bring a change in Delhi.
2/–PTO
 

 
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The party cadres will expose the misdeeds of the Congress government and will mobilise common people at the household level.
 
Shri Goel said, "BJP is a cadre based party. In our party, it is not the leader but the party cadres which content elections. In days to come these crack teams comprising 3.5 lakh committed party cadres will lead the poll charge and they will be backed by support at all levels from the party."

He further added, "After formulating these teams, our next step is train, engage and equip them. Thus we are holding "Karyakarta Sammelans" in all 280 mandals from 19 July to 4 August."

Each of this meet will be attended by the mandal level party workers and addressed by one of the senior state or national leaders. The focus of these "Sammelans" is three pronged- Training the party cadres, sharing of perspective by party cadres and taking a resolve to end the misrule of Congress.

The party will be sharing "information kits" with the party cadres at these meets so that they can take down the right kind of message with the right perspective to every household.
 
"Not only the top state level leaders but senior national leaders are going to be addressing the Karyakarta Sammelans. This is because our leadership has a clear view that it is the party cadre at the grassroot level which plays a key role in any election strategy. So the top leadership will be leading from the front at the grassroot level as our crack teams get going," said Shri Goel.

In addition to many other senior leaders, those would be addressing the "Karyakarta Sammelans" include Shri Rajnath Singh, Shri Ram Lal, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Shri Venkiah Naidu, Shri Anant Kumar and Shri Thawarchand Gehlot.

• State BJP President Shri Vijay Goel hands over more than Rs 45 lakhs in relief donations to Smt Sushma Swaraj, Hon’ble Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha)
• Smt Suushma Swaraj flays centre’s and Uttarakhand state government’s efforts in effectively tackling disaster aftermath

New Delhi, July 16: The Delhi State Unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today held a prayer meeting to remember and honor the memory of the thousands of dead and missing pilgrims due to severe calamity that struck Uttarakhand more than a month back. On this occasion, the Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha, Smt Sushama Swaraj, and the President of the State unit of BJP, Shri Vijay Goel were present and addressed the meet. A sum of Rs 45,59,213 was handed over by Shri Goel to Smt. Sushama Swaraj.  Prayers were offered for the safe return of those still missing and for eternal peace of the soul of those who had left us forever. The prayer meet was presided by the globally renowned Sant Shri Dr. Vallabh Joshi and he was accompanied by the redoubtable Bhajan singer, Jitendra. 
 
Smt Sushama Swaraj said, “The Uttarakhand tragedy has left many families in despair and broken. My deepest sympathies and condolences are with these families always.’ She further added, “Even a month post the tragedy, the state and the central government have not been able to even arrive at the correct figure of those dead and missing. The government has completely failed in anticipating and managing this disaster at all levels. The government at the centre has not taken any efforts to determine the fate of the affected families.”  She praised the Army men for saving lakhs and paid tributes to the 20 Airmen who sacrificed their lives.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Vijay Goel Said, “I have spoken to the Delhi Chief Minister many times time in this context but she has ignored my submissions. My party then tried to reach the affected Delhi families through advertisements and announcements in the media and this has resulted in our getting hold of over 400 names. We have submitted this list to the concerned authorities.
 
He further added, “Each of MLA has donated a sum of Rs 10 lakhs from their assigned fund and this sum would also be added to the other efforts already underway to mobilze aid and assistance for the affected families.”