Guwahati, April 10: The Centre today informed the Rajya Sabha that 31.98 per cent of Assam's population lives below the poverty line (BPL).

Replying to a question by Rajya Sabha MP from Assam Ranee Narah, Union rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar said according to the number and percentage of population below poverty line in 2011-12, there are 101.27 lakh people under BPL in Assam which comprises 31.98 per cent of the state's total population.

Giving the break-up of BPL population in rural and urban areas, Tomar said the number of BPL people in rural areas is 92.06 lakh which is 33.89 per cent of the total rural population while in urban areas, the figure is 9.21 lakh which comes to 20.49 per cent of the state's urban population.

Tomar said the erstwhile Planning Commission had estimated poverty on the basis of large sample surveys on household consumer expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Office as criteria for defining "poverty line" that separates poor from not-poor people.

"The ministry of rural development conducted a combined Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in 2011 to rank households across the country for both rural and urban areas on identified socio-economic parameters," the minister said.

In reply to another question by Narah, Union minister of state (independent charge) for environment, forest and climate change, Anil Madhav Dave, today said five cities in Assam have failed to meet the National Air Quality standards.

These five cities are Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Silchar.

The list of cities that have not conformed to the National Ambient Air Quality standards was prepared on the basis of data monitored during 2011-15.