ECONOMICS

CLASS: IX
POVERTY AS A CHALLENGE: PART I
Saudamini Dei

Poverty: It is a situation in which people are not able to fulfil the basic minimum necessities
of their life.

1 ISSUES RELATED TO POVERTY:

ˆ Landlessness

ˆ Unemployment

ˆ Size of families

ˆ Illiteracy

ˆ Poor health/ Malnutrition

ˆ Child Labour

ˆ Helplessness

Social Exclusion: Poor people live in poor surrounding with other poor people, and are
excluded from enjoying social equality of better off people in better surroundings. Social
exclusion is both a cause and consequence of poverty. It is a process in which individuals or
groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that others enjoy.

Vulnerability: It describes the greater probability of certain communities of becoming or

remaining poor in the coming years. It is analysed on the basis of the greater risks these
groups face at the time of natural disasters. Vulnerability describes the greater probability
of being more adversely affected than other people when bad time comes for everybody.

Poverty Line: It is an estimated level of income needed to fulfil basic needs of life.

2 MEASURE OF POVERTY BASED ON CONSUMP-

TION LEVEL:
ˆ A common method used to measure poverty is based on income or consumption level.

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 ˆ The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per person per day
in rural areas and 2100 calories per person per day in urban areas.

ˆ The poverty line for a person is fixed at Rs.816 per month in rural areas and Rs.1000
per person for the urban areas.

ˆ The poverty line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting
sample surveys. These surveys are carried out by the National Sample Survey organi-
sation.

3 POVERTY ESTIMATES:
ˆ Social groups which are more vulnerable to poverty: Scheduled caste and scheduled
households.

ˆ Economic groups which are more vulnerable to poverty: Rural agricultural labour
households and urban casual labour households.

ˆ Poorest of the poor: In poor families all suffer, but some suffer more than others.
Women, elderly people and female infants are systematically denied equal access to
resources available to family. Therefore, women, children (especially girl child) and old
people are poorest of the poor.

4 INTER- STATE DISPARITY IN POVERTY IN POVERTY:

ˆ The proportion of poor people is not the same in every state.

ˆ The states like Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha are above
all India poverty level.

ˆ Bihar and Odisha continue to be two poorest states with poverty ratios of 33.7 and
32.6 per cent respectively.

ˆ In Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh both the rural and urban poverty
is high.

ˆ There has been a significant decline in poverty in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujrat and West
Bengal.

ˆ There has been decline in poverty in Punjab and Haryana due to Green Revolution
and abundant agricultural production.

ˆ There has been decline in poverty in Kerala due to human resource development.

ˆ There has been decline in poverty in West Bengal due to land reform measures.

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ˆ In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public distribution of food grains is responsible
for decline in poverty.