Soft Skill Internal Assessment – I

ERADICATION OF POVERTY
1. INTRODUCTION
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have
diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in statistics or
economics there are two main measures: absolute poverty compares income against the amount
needed to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter; relative poverty measures
when a person cannot meet a minimum level of living standards, compared to others in the same
time and place. The definition of relative poverty varies from one country to another or from
one society to another.

Statistically, as of 2019, most of the world's population live in poverty: in PPP dollars, 85% of
people live on less than $30 per day, two-thirds live on less than $10 per day, and 10% live on less
than $1.90 per day (extreme poverty). According to the World Bank Group in 2020, more than
40% of the poor live in conflict-affected countries. Even when countries experience economic
development, the poorest citizens of middle-income countries frequently do not gain an adequate
share of their countries' increased wealth to leave poverty. Governments and non-governmental
organizations have experimented with a number of different policies and programs for poverty
alleviation, such as electrification in rural areas or housing first policies in urban areas.

Many people around the globe still struggle to make ends meet. According to the World Bank, an
estimated 711 million people lived in extreme poverty—defined as surviving on less than the $1.90
per day line—in 2021, which equates to about 10% of the global population. Access to good
schools, healthcare, electricity, safe water, and other critical services remains elusive for many and
is often determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography. For those able to
move out of poverty, progress is often temporary. Economic shocks, food insecurity, and climate
change threaten their gains and may force them back into poverty. Poverty is a difficult cycle to
break and often passes from one generation to the next. Typical consequences of poverty include
alcohol and substance abuse, limited access to education, poor housing and living conditions, and
increased levels of disease. Heightened poverty is likely to cause increased tensions in

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society as inequality increases. These issues often lead to rising crime rates in communities
affected by poverty Social forces, such as gender, disability, race and ethnicity, can exacerbate
issues of poverty—with women, children and minorities frequently bearing unequal burdens of
poverty. Moreover, impoverished individuals are more vulnerable to the effects of other social
issues, such as the environmental effects of industry or the impacts of climate change or
other natural disasters or extreme weather events. Poverty can also make other social
problems worse; economic pressures on impoverished communities frequently play a part
in deforestation, biodiversity loss and ethnic conflict. For this reason, the UN's Sustainable
Development Goals and other international policy programs, such as the international recovery
from COVID-19, emphasize the connection of poverty alleviation with other societal goals.

YouTube Video Link: https://youtu.be/gX9NdDTIo3A

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2. PICTURE IN ACTION

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We made a small documentary on Eradication of Poverty in India. In this video, we have discussed
about what is poverty, how people are facing problems due to poverty, and the current status of
poverty in India, measures taken to eradicate poverty in India and how India is fighting against
poverty in the recent years and the improvements done in the last few years.
The above pictures depicts about the poverty. Poverty can have diverse social, economic,
and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in statistics or economics there are two
main measures: absolute poverty compares income against the amount needed to meet basic

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personal needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter; relative poverty measures when a person
cannot meet a minimum level of living standards, compared to others in the same time and place.
In the beginning of the video, we can see that people speak about the problems faced due to
poverty. India is a fast growing country with a population of more than 1.1 billion people. There
are more poor people in eight states of India than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. More
than 410 million people live in poverty in the Indian states and researchers say the intensity of the
poverty in the parts of India is equal to even worse than in Africa. The fact is the majority of the
India’s poor are found in the countryside and the rural poor make up 75 percent of those who live
beneath the poverty line.

The following pictures depicts the poverty trap and shows the difficulties faced by the people due
to the Poverty. The main reason for the poverty is due low economic growth, low level of
education, increase in population and low level of capital all of these which leads to low income.
The best example is the incident, which took place in Bihar where people steal oil, as they cannot
afford due to the increasing oil prices.

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Abhiram discussed about the cause of poverty in India and how people are facing problems due to
poverty. India has a population of more than 1.1 billion people. According to study conducted by
Oxford University that is being used for United Nations human development report, there are more
poor people in 8 states of India than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that
more than 410 million people live in poverty in the Indian states, and researchers say the intensity
of the poverty in the parts of India is equal to even worse than in Africa. The majority of the India’s
poor are found in the countryside and the rural poor make up 75 percent of those who live beneath
the poverty line.

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Nischal discussed about the main cause of poverty in India and the current status of poverty levels
in India. The main reason for the poverty is due low economic growth, low level of education,
increase in population and low level of capital all of these which leads to low income. The best
example is the incident, which took place in Bihar where people steal oil, as they cannot afford
due to the increasing oil prices.
The further discussion leads to a question of poverty levels in India. The discussion is continued
by the survey of IMF and World Bank published papers. Since the government stopped conducting
consumption expenditure surveys (CES) since 2012, There has been no official estimate of poverty
levels in India. Now, two separate working papers by authors affiliated with the World Bank and
the international monetary fund (IMF) have given widely different estimates of extreme poverty
in the country. Both estimates determine poverty based on a World Bank defined poverty line at
$1.90 per day, AND note that poverty reduced drastically during the last seven years of the NDA
government. The World Bank says that extreme poverty in India dropped sharply by 12.3
percentage points since 2012, to rest at 10.4% of the population in 2019. However, it is stated that

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IMF’s estimate is far more contentious- at just 0.8% of the population, the IMF paper argues
extreme poverty almost vanished in India before the covid-19 pandemic.

Aneesh discussed about the measures and improvements taken in India to reduce the poverty lines.
It is said that India’s GDP is growing at over 7% per year, 224 million people live below poverty
line, India has world’s most progressive poverty reduction schemes and the best example is the
Mgnrega housing for all smart cities mission. It is estimated that by 2030 around 400 million
people will be living in cities in India, Inclusive urbanization sustainable infrastructure can unlock
India’s prosperity.

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3. CONTRIBUTIONS
Abhiram BS:
“When it comes to team work, all the members usually contribute to their level best. My part
covered about the status of India and its main reasons for poverty in India. The main reasons for
poverty is due to low economic growth, vast population, less income etc. I also helped my
teammates in building the basic structure of our video's script. I demonstrated my video editing
skills by combing all the information my teammates. I went with the flow and started collecting
images, videos as well as making sure our message was properly delivered according to the script
planned. I made sure that all of our voices were heard clearly and noise was minimized to the
maximum. The video is divided into three parts. The first part depicts about the Main cause of
poverty and its effects. The second part tells us about the poverty levels in India with reference to
the IMF and World Bank research papers. The last part shows us how India is improving in the
past few years to Eradicate the poverty. The complete video is a combination of small video clips,
images and transition effects which depicts the Eradication of poverty in India. The video contains
various transitions and effects which also matches the audio track made by Aneesh. The video
contains appropriate examples that tells us about the poverty status and how India is taking
measures to eradicate poverty in India.Thus the video summarises about the poverty status and
how India is fighting against the poverty.”

Aneesh M:
In recent times, India has been having an amazing recovery from poverty, thanks to various
schemes provided by the government, like the MGNREGA, which provides employment for a
limited time for the unemployed. It is estimated that by 2030, almost 400 million citizens will be
living in cities.
“My contributions to the team was to make sure I select the information appropriately for what I
was to say, and made sure to speak fluently and slowly to make it easier to understand.
My major contribution, however, was to create an audio track over which, our voices were
overlayed. I decided to go with a single-track, with a non-percussion instrument, as choosing many
instruments and creating many tracks might result in clashing of audios when the audio would be

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mixed with the speeches. I chose to play the piano, as there is a lot of flexibility in portraying the
emotions, while keeping things subtle. I decided to make this composition in the scale of C# min,
and in the time signature of 12/8 (compound quadruple time). But I decided to make things
interesting in the first half by playing the arpeggios in 2/4 (in the right hand) and then add the 12/8
elements with the left hand. For the first part, I decided the chord progression to be C#min/Ab, A
(maj), F#min/A and then transitioning to Ab7/F# by playing C#sus4/Ab. This chord progression
gives a mysterious and melancholy feeling, as at the time of playing this, in the video, my friend
would talk about the poverty in India. The 6th major chord (A major in this case) gives a mysterious
feeling and acts as a bridge to the next chord, which is a 4th minor chord (F# minor, in this case)
where the emotions change to that of sadness. The 7th of the 5th major chord (Ab7 in this case)
adds a darker emotion to it. Next, I descended down the scale of C#min and ascended to the next
point. From here on, I decided to play the arpeggios in the time signature of 12/8 itself. While the
tempo remained the same, the chord progression changed. This was done to shift the emotion
towards a positive side, as the topic that would be shown is regarding poverty eradication. The
chord progression I went for is C#min/Ab, E/Ab, B/F#, F#. Adding a 3rd major chord (E major in
this case) would give it a more positive feeling and the 7th major chord (B major in this case)
would act as a bridge to the next chord while maintaining the same emotion. A 4th major chord
gives a mysterious feeling and adds a slight anticipation in the mix. I decided to give an ending to
the track by playing the C#min, and then Ab7/Eb to make it more mysterious and then Ab major,
which gives a feel of realization and then finally descended down the C#min scale and then
ascended back and ended with a C#5/Ab and a low bass octave on the left hand.”

Nischal U:
“Each individual in the team has their own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone contributing 100
percent is the best way by which we can develop skills. My contribution to the team was to research
about the content related to our topic. The part covered by me shows how poverty has lead to the
raise in illiteracy in India, as a result of which people can be seen stealing oil from a moving train.
Moreover, there are no official estimation if poverty has been eradicated from India or not. But as
per the statement of the World Bank ,extreme poverty in India dropped sharply by 12.3 percentage

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points since 2012, to rest at 10.4% of the population in 2019. I even contributed in the script
writing and designing the flow of the video. I worked on how we can conclude our documentary
in a positive note so that we are able to pass the message that how important is to eradicate poverty
from the society not only for the development of individual but also of the whole world and that it
is importance to create awareness as soon as possible. I even contributed in making the final report
for our project. Report holds great importance as it provides the information about our project in
detail.”

4. REFLECTIONS
It is a privilege for us to have been and worked in a team where everyone was willing to contribute
with lots of enthusiasm. It was because of this that the project was completed on time. We say this
without any doubt. It would be impossible to get the same quality of output, let alone completing
it in time, if even one member didn’t show the enthusiasm they had.

We were able to compile the video by referring to several other videos, from which, we sourced
the information. Adding to that, we referred to several websites and articles, from which, we
sourced the information for our speeches.

We are very grateful that we got to work for the topic of Eradication of Poverty in India. As we
were working and finding information, it made us realize the dire situation India is in right now,
and that the recovery is at a strong rate. We also learnt to never take anything lightly, as it might
be something the people in poverty desire the most.

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4. CONCLUSION

For solving the problem of poverty it is necessary for us to act quickly and correctly. Some of the
ways of solving these problems are to provide proper facilities to farmers. So, that they can make
agriculture profitable and do not migrate to cities in search of employment.

Also, illiterate people should be given the required training so that they can live a better life. To check
the rising population, family planning should be followed. Besides, measures should be taken to end
corruption, so that we can deal with the gap between rich and poor.
In conclusion, poverty is not the problem of a person but of the whole nation. Also, it should be
deal with on an urgent basis by the implementation of effective measures. In addition, eradication
of poverty has become necessary for the sustainable and inclusive growth of people, society,
country, and economy.

Increasing the number of organizations which are working to reduce poverty by educating Indians
to be organized and to take actions related to this matter is also another suggestion of mine.
Encouraging people who have volunteered to provide facilities such as pure water, foods filled
with nutrients, living places to poor people and who’re conducting charity services to develop the
lives of them, by offering special rewards and admiring them in various ways would be a good
way to increase the number of voluntary workers. So we believe in our opinions and suggestions
would be a good help to conclude poverty.

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