13.39 crore rural households' monthly income is less than Rs 5,000

NEW DELHI: More than 13 crore rural households in the country have income of less than Rs 5,000 per month, Parliament was informed today.

According to the Socio Economic and Caste Census ( SECC) 2011, "..13.39 crore out Of 17.97 crore rural households have declared income of less than Rs 5,000 a month," Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Yadav further said that the Department of Rural Development is implementing various schemes including MNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana (PMSY) among others to bring about overall improvement in the quality of life of the people.

"These programmes have direct and indirect bearing on poverty alleviation," he said.

The SECC 2011 was carried out to generate information on a large number of social and economic indicators for ranking of households in rural and urban areas of the country. And its process was concluded in March this year.

The ministry is using the SECC data in its programmes. The data is being used for selecting beneficiaries in PMAY, PMSY and others.