Abandoning the earlier formula of declaring the families with annual income less than Rs 20,000 as the ones living below the poverty line in the rural areas, the Union Government has adopted new criteria to identify such families. Under the new formula, which has been opposed by several states, a quota of BPL families has been fixed for all states. Rejecting this "unrealistic" approach, the Punjab Government has asked the Union Government to review the new criteria and do away with the quota system for the rural areas.