Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that Planning Commission releases estimates of urban poor from time to time based on the national sample survey conducted by the
National Sample Survey Orgnaisation (NSSO). As per the latest such estimates of
NSSO (61st Round) for the year 2004-05, based on the Uniform Recall Period (
URP) method, the estimated number of urban poor is 80.8 million which is 25.7%, of the urban population. The comparable estimates are available for the year 1993-94, when the estimated number of urban poor was 76.3 million which was 32.4%, of the then urban population.
In a written reply in the
Rajya Sabha today she said, there is no such scheme named as
Swarna Jayanti Rajiv Awas Yojana.
However, the Government has announced a new scheme called Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) for the slum dwellers and the urban poor. This scheme aims at providing support to States that are willing to provide property rights to slum dwellers.
The total amount earmarked for Rajiv Awas Yojana is Rs. 150 crore for the year 2009-10.
