New Delhi.The Minister of State in the Ministry of Urban Development Shri Saugata Roy has said that Planning Commission releases estimates of poverty from time to time based on the national sample survey conducted by the National Sample Survey organization (NSSO). As per the latest such estimates of NSSO (61st Round) for the year 2004-2005, based on the uniform Recall Period (URP) method, the estimated number of poor in the country is 30.17 million which is 27.50% of the population of the country.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today he said, the 61st Round of NSSO survey data do not provide information on migration. So data on migrant poor in metropolitan cities is not available. Government has enacted the unorganized worker’s Social Security Act, 2008 to provide social security to the unorganized workers. The ct provides for constitution of National Social Security Board which shall recommend for formulation of social security schemes viz. life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection etc.

The Minister said, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) has also been launched from 1-4-2008 to provide smart card cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30000/- per annum to below poverty line families in the unorganized sector. More than 1.45 crore smart cards have been issued under this scheme as on 30-4-2010.