State government estimates of the number of below poverty line families in rural areas is likely to go down sharply. Thus fewer families will be eligible for the benefits of poverty alleviation programmes in the Tenth Five Year Plan than in thhe earlier one. The rural development ministry, which is incharge of these programmes, has changed the rules for identification of BPL families identified by states on the basis of the BPL Census 2002 cannot exceed the 1999-2000 BPl estimates of the Planning Commission by more than 10 per cent.