Bangalore's poor give thumbs up to Pranab's budget

Bangalore, July 6 : Bangalore's urban poor, who reside mostly in slums, have hailed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget as pro-poor.

"Firstly, I appreciate Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for presenting a pro-poor budget with several sops for urban poor," Isaac Arul Selva (38), a slum dweller, told IANS.

"The National Food Security scheme for providing food at cheaper rates to the poor is a commendable step on the part of the government," added Selva, the founder and editor of Slum Jagatthu (Slum World), India's first magazine that focuses only on the issues related to the urban poor.

The budget has announced a provision of 25 kg of either wheat or rice per month at Rs.3 per kg to families living below the poverty line (BPL).

Echoing Selva, septuagenarian Anand Babu of Ambedkar Nagar slum said that if implemented, the food security scheme would help the poor fight hunger and deprivation.

"Poor people are always deprived of basic food. Most of the children and women from underprivileged sections of society are mal-nourished. The food security scheme will bring some relief to the poor people, but it would have been better if 25 kg had been increased to at least 40 kg, as poor families are usually big," added Babu.

Across the slums of Ambedkar Nagar and Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, several of its residents distributed sweets as Pranab Mukherjee ended his budget announcements.

Besides the food security measures, the finance minister also offered sops for the unorganized sector and housing for the poor.

"Most of the poor people are working in unorganized sectors, including daily wage earners, hawkers and vendors. Now, the government will take care of the workers in the unorganized sectors," said Mani K, a hawker and member of "Slum Janandolan Karnataka" (SJK), a group fighting for the rights of the slum dwellers.

The hike in budgetary allocation to Rs.3,973 crore for the provision of housing and basic amenities for urban poor was welcomed.

"Housing is a major problem for the urban poor as most of them stay in makeshift houses without any sanitation facilities. The increase in allocation for urban housing is a positive step," said Selva.

"In a nut-shell, we can say that some positive steps have been taken to alleviate the condition of the poor in urban areas of the country," said Mani.

India's Silicon Valley has around 800 slums.

According to figures available with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike or Greater Bangalore City Corporation, approximately 60,0000 people live in these slums. The city's total population is about eight million.

The slum population is projected to go up to one million by 2010, when the total population is expected to reach 10 million.