POVERTY AS A CHALLENGE
What is Poverty ? Poverty is the most difficult challenge faced by independent India. Poverty is a condition in which a person lacks the financial resources and essentials things to enjoy minimum standards of life. Poor people can be landless labourers in villages, jhuggi and slum dwellers in cities and towns, daily wage workers at construction sites, child workers in dhabas or even beggars. India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the world, where every fourth person is poor.
Two Typical Cases Of Poverty both urban and rural cases show us that there are many dimensions of poverty, including lack of proper food, shelter, healthcare, education as well as clean water and sanitation. They also show lack of a regular means of livelihood.
Poverty as seen by Social Scientists : Nowadays, poverty is looked at through other indicators like illiteracy level, lack of access to health care, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water, social exclusion sanitation, etc. all these can be termed as indicators of poverty. Analysis of poverty based on social exclusion and vulnerability is now becoming very common.
Social Exclusion: A social exclusion means living in a poor surrounding with poor people, excluded from enjoying Social equality of better off people in the better surrounding. Social exclusion can be a cause as well as a result of poverty which leads to exclusion of individuals or groups from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy. In India, the caste system is based on social exclusion. People belonging to certain castes were prevented from enjoying equal facilities, benefits and opportunities. This caused more poverty than the lower income.
Vulnerability: Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, which describes the greater probability of certain communities. E.g. members of a backward caste or individuals like widow, physically handicapped person of becoming or remaining poor in the coming time. Vulnerability is determined by various options available to different communities in terms of assets, education, job, health, etc. and analyze their ability to face various risks like natural disasters. The group which face greater risk at the time of natural calamity are called vulnerable groups.
Poverty Line : The poverty line is a method to measure poverty based on income or consumption levels. Poverty line varies according to time and place. In India, the poverty line is determined through a minimum level of basic needs, educational and medical requirements, etc. These physical quantities are multiplied by their price in rupees. In India poverty is calculated on the basis of the desired calorie requirement . The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person in rural areas and 2100 calories per person in urban areas. Rural areas the need for physical work is more due to this calorie intake is high in rural areas compared to urban areas. The poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting sample surveys carried out by the NSSO(National sample survey organization).
Poverty Estimates : There is a substantial decline in poverty rates in India from about 55% in 1973 to 36% in1993. The proportion of people below the poverty line further came down to about 21.9% according to 2011census. The poverty ratio continuously declined from 1974 to 2011. Surveys for determining poverty line are carried out by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).
The government merged the NSSO & CSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation(MoSPI) and formed an overarching body- National Statistical Organization(NSO). Estimates of poverty in India(Tendulkar Methodology) the poverty ratio continuously decreased from 1974 to 2004 Where as from 2004- 2005 to 2009- 2010 there is a slight increase of poverty percentage by 1.3% due to2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Vulnerable Groups : Vulnerability to poverty is a measure which describes the greater probability of certain communities of becoming or remaining poor in the coming years. Poverty among social groups and economic categories varies widely in India. Social vulnerable groups are the households of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). 51 out of 100 people belonging to scheduled tribes are not able to meet their basic needs. Economically vulnerable groups comprise rural landless labour households and urban casual labour households. 50% of casual workers in urban areas are below the poverty line, About 50% of the landless agricultural workers and 43% of scheduled castes are also poor. Apart from these social groups, women, elderly people and female infants are systematically denied equal access to resources available to the family. This group is the poorest of the poor. Inter State Disparities: The proportion of the poor is not the same in every state. State level poverty has declined but the success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state. In 20 states and union territories, the poverty ratio is less than the national average. Poverty is still a serious problem in Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Orissa and Bihar continue to be the two poorest states with poverty ratios of 47 and 43 percent respectively. Urban poverty is also high in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal. States like Punjab and Haryana have traditionally succeeded in reducing poverty with the help of high agricultural growth rates.
Global Poverty Scenario : Global poverty has declined but it is marked with regional differences. Poverty declined in China and South-East Asian countries as a result of rapid economic growth and massive investment in human resource development. In countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan)the decline has not been rapid. In sub Saharan Africa poverty rose from 41% in 1981 to 46% in 2001. In Latin America the ratio of poverty remained the same. Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist countries like Russia where it was non-existent earlier. International poverty line means population living below $1 a day. The Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations calls for reducing the proportion of people living on less than $ 1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015.
Causes of Poverty : One historical reason is the low level of economic development under the British colonial administration. The policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged development of industries like textiles. Low rate of growth persisted, leading to less jobs and low incomes. High growth rate of population and less availability of jobs led to unemployment leading to poverty. Lack of land resources has been one of the major causes of poverty in India. To fulfill social obligations and observe religious ceremonies people in India including the poor spend a lot of money and have to take loans which they are unable to repay and fall into a debt trap leading to extreme poverty. Small farmers need money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds fertilizers', pesticides etc. Since they hardly have any savings they have to take loans which they are unable to repay and fall into a debt trap leading to extreme poverty.
Anti-Poverty Measures : The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two plans Promotion of economic growth and Targeted anti-poverty programmes. Promotion of economic growth: Economic growth has increased and helped significantly in the reduction of poverty. But it is not enough and is comparatively a slow process. Growth in the agriculture sector is much below expectations and a large number of people are dependent on agriculture Anti poverty Programmes: Because of the slow reduction of poverty there was a need for targeted anti-poverty programmes some of them are: Programme Name Year Target Group Significant features of the programme - Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana(PMRY) 1993 Unemployed in rural areas & small towns. Setting up of self employment ventures through industry, services and business routes. Rural Employment Generation Programme(REGP) 1995 Unemployed youth in rural areas. To generate employment in rural areas and to develop entrepreneurial skill and attitude among rural unemployed youth. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) 1999 Poor families in rural areas. Organising the rural poor into self help groups providing skill development opportunities, credit linkages and subsidies and creation of marketing opportunities for products. This scheme is now known as National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM). Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana(PMGY) 2000 Rural areas in states. Achieve sustainable human development at the village level by providing central assistance to states and UTs for certain basic minimum services like primary health, education,drinking water, electrification & nutrition. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) 2000 Poor families in urban and rural areas. Ensuring food security to the poorest of the poor by providing food grains at highly subsidised rates. National Food for Work Programme(NFWP) 2004 Poor people in rural areas of 150 most backward districts. Generating supplementary wage employment and providing food security in these districts. This has now been subsumed under NREGA. Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MNREGA) 2005 Rural households. Enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing100 days(100 days work in a year and has a provision to extend it to 150 days at a time of drought or natural calamity) of wage employment in a financial year to rural household whose adult member volunteers to do unskilled manual work. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) 2000 Poor families in urban and rural areas. Ensuring food security to the poorest of the poor by providing food grains at highly subsidized rates. National Food for Work Programme(NFWP) 2004 Poor people in rural areas of 150 most backward districts. Generating supplementary wage employment and providing food security in these districts. This has now been subsumed under NREGA. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MNREGA)2005 Rural households. Enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing100 days(100 days work in a year and has a provision to extend it to 150 days at a time of drought or natural calamity) of wage employment in a financial year to rural household whose adult member volunteers to do unskilled manual work.
Challenges : Poverty has declined in India but not up to the desired level. Poverty reduction remains India’s most important challenge. Certain social and economic groups are vulnerable to poverty. The official definition of poverty is about minimum subsistence level of living rather than a reasonable level of living. Many scholars advocate that we must broaden the concept into human poverty. Human poverty not only considers lack of money but also absence of education, healthcare or shelter and freedom from caste and gender discrimination. In addition to anti-poverty measures, the government should focus on the following to reduce poverty. Higher economic growth. Universal free elementary education. The decrease in population growth. Empowerment of women and weaker section.
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