3.

POVERTY AS A CHALLENGE

1. What is poverty? What are the dimensions of poverty?

Ans: Poverty is a situation in which a person is unable to get the minimum necessities of life.

The dimensions of poverty are:

i) Poverty means hunger and lack of shelter.

ii) It is a situation in which parents are not able to send their children to school or a situation
where sick people cannot afford treatment.
iii) Poverty also means lack of clean water and sanitation facilities.
iv) It also means lack of regular job at a minimum decent level.
v) Poor people are in a situation in which they are ill-treated at almost every place, in farms,
factories, government offices, hospitals, railway stations etc.

2. What are the indicators used by social scientists to understand poverty?

Ans: the indicators used by social scientists to understand poverty are:

i) levels of income and consumption

ii) Lack of general resistance due to malnutrition.
iii) Lack of access to healthcare
iv) Lack of job opportunities
v) Lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, etc.

3. What does social exclusion mean?

Ans: According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in poor
surrounding with other people, excluded from enjoying social equality of better-off people in better
surroundings.

4. What do you understand by vulnerability to poverty?

Ans:

i) Vulnerability of poverty means some communities or social groups are more prone to
poverty than other sections of the society.
ii) Members of a backward caste or individuals such as a widow or a physically handicapped
person of becoming, or remaining, poor in the coming years.
iii) Further, it is analysed on the basis of the greater risks these groups face at the time of
natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunami), terrorism, etc.

5. What is the full form of NSSO?

Ans: National Sample Survey Organization.

6. How is poverty defined by the World Bank ?

Ans: Poverty is defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.90 per day.

7. What is a Poverty Line?

Ans: It is a common method used to measure poverty is based on the income or consumption levels.

8. Which social groups are most vulnerable to poverty?

Ans: The social groups, which are most vulnerable to poverty are Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribe
households.

9. Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India?

Ans:

i) A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given
“minimum level” necessary to fulfil the basic needs.
ii) This minimum level is called the poverty line.
iii) In India poverty line is estimated by multiplying the prices of physical quantities like food,
clothing, footwear, fuel, light, education, etc. In rupees.
iv) The numbers involved in determining the poverty line vary for different years.

10. Do you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate?

Ans: No, the present-day methodology of poverty estimation does not seem to be completely
appropriate.

i) This is because the only factor is taken into consideration is the economic status, and
moreover, it considers a minimum subsistence of living instead of a reasonable status of
living.
ii) Poverty, today is a larger concept that only the economic status of the people.
iii) With advancements and development, the definition of poverty has also changed.
iv) People may have been able to feed themselves and their family, but education, shelter,
health, job security and dignity are still at a threat.
v) To overcome poverty entirely, all the above mentioned factors also need to be kept in
consideration.

11. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973.

Ans:

i) The Economic Survey of 2017-18 shows that although poverty has declined in the country,
the number of poor still remains very high.
ii) The poverty ratio of 1993-94 for both rural and urban areas together was at 45% and the
ratio for the year 2011-12 has declined down to 22%.
iii) However, the topic of concern still remains that there has not been any massive decline in
the number of poor living in the country.
iv) From 404 million poor population in both rural and urban areas together in 1993-94. The
poor population till 2011-12 remains to be 270 million for both rural and urban areas.

12. Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India.

Ans: The major reasons for poverty in the country are:

i) The low level of economic development under British colonial rule. The policies of the
colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged the development of
industries like textiles.
ii) The spread of the Green Revolution created many job opportunities for the people of the
country, yet they were not sufficient in comparison to the number of job seekers.
iii) Unequal distribution of land and resources is another important factor for poverty in India.
iv) In order to fulfil social obligations and religious ceremonies the poor end up spending a lot
which results in poverty.
v) Inequality in the income of the people is also a major reason for poverty.

13. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India.

Ans: The social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India are:

I) Scheduled Caste Households

II) Scheduled Tribe Households

The economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India are:

i) Rural Agricultural Labour Households

ii) Urban Casual Labour Households.

14. Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India.

Ans:

i) Poverty in India differs for different states.

ii) The success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state, causing inter-state
disparities in poverty level.
iii) Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are the three poorest states in India with their people
living below the poverty line being 47, 42 and 37 percent, respectively.
iv) Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are the three better-off states in India as
far as poverty is concerned.
v) There are various factors that are responsible for these interstate disparities of poverty in
India.
15. Explain the principle measures taken in Punjab, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to reduce poverty.

Ans: The measures taken in Punjab, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to reduce poverty are:

i) The principal measures taken in Punjab to reduce poverty is increasing the agricultural
growth rates.
ii) Kerala has focused more on human resource development to reduce poverty.
iii) Andhra Pradesh focused on public distribution of food grains to reduce poverty.

16. Describe global poverty trends.

Ans:

i) The proportion of people in developing countries living in extreme economic poverty

defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1 per day – has fallen from 28 percent in
1990 to 21 percent in 2001.
ii) Although there has been a substantial reduction in global poverty, it is marked with great
regional differences.
iii) Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian countries as a result of rapid
economic growth and massive investments in human resource development.
iv) In the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) the
decline has not been rapid.
v) In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty in fact rose from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001.
vi) In Latin America, the ration of poverty remained the same.
vii) Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist countries like Russia, where
officially it was nonexistent earlier.

17. Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation.

Ans:

i) Removal of poverty has been one of the major objectives of Indian developmental strategy.
The current anti-poverty strategy of the government is based broadly on two planks.
a) Promotion of economic growth
b) Targeted anti-poverty programmes.
ii) Awareness is being spread across the nation specifying the importance of education, which
has resulted in the increase of literacy level.
iii) Various schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005,
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY), Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)
and Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) have been introduced by the government with an
aim to abolish poverty from the country.
18. What do you understand by human poverty?

Ans: Human poverty is a term that means that poverty in India is not just limited to the economic
status of the people but rather spreads in various other sectors, which include lack of education,
negligence of health care system, discrimination and disparity. Abolishing poverty from the country
should not be the only aim of the authorities but to abolish human poverty must be the aim.

19. Who are the poorest of the poor?

Ans: Women, female infants and elderly are considered to the poorest of the poor. This is because
in a poor household, these people suffer the most and are deprived of the maximum necessities in
life.

20. What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act2005?

Ans: The main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act2005 are as follows:

i) To provide 100 days of wage employment to every household to ensure livelihood security.
ii) Sustainable development to address the cause of drought, deforestation and soil erosion
etc.
iii) One-third of the proposed jobs under this scheme have been reserved for women.

21. What are the major reasons for less effectiveness of anti-poverty measures?

Ans: the major reasons for less effectiveness of anti-poverty measures are:

i) One of the major reasons for less effectiveness is the lack of proper implementation and
right targeting.
ii) Moreover, there has been a lot of overlapping schemes.
iii) Despite good intensions, the benefits of these schemes are not fully reached to the
deserving poor.
iv) Therefore, the major emphasis in recent years is on proper monitoring of all the poverty
alleviation programmes.

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