POVERTY

Introduction
In our daily life, we see poverty all around us. They could be landless labourers in villages,
people living in overcrowded jhuggis in cities, daily wage workers or child workers in dhabas.
According to facts, in India every fourth person is poor.

POVERTY AS SEEN BY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS

OR
SOCIAL INDICATORS USED BY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS TO MEASURE POVERTY
Social scientists look at poverty through a variety of indicators.
These indicators are
- the levels of income and consumption.
-But, now poverty is looked through other social indicators like-
-illiteracy level
- lack of general resistance due to malnutrition
-lack of access to healthcare
-lack of job opportunities
-lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation etc.

BASIS OF POVERTY ANALYSIS

SOCIAL EXCLUSION
VULNERABILITY
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Or
SOCIAL EXCLUSION IS BOTH A CAUSE AS WELL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF
POVERTY.ELUCIDATE

-It is a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities and benefits
that others enjoy
-A typical example is the working of the caste system in India
-In this Poverty is seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor surrounding with
other poor people.
-In this people belonging to certain classes are excluded from equal opportunities.
-Social exclusion thus may lead to having a very low income.

VULNERABILITY
-Vulnerability describes the greater probability of being more adversely affected than other
people when bad time comes for everybody whether a flood earthquake or simply fall in
availability of jobs.
- Certain communities or individuals such as widows or a physically handicapped person
are more vulnerable of becoming or remaining poor
-Vulnerability is determined by the options available to different in terms of assets,education
and job opportunities
-It is analysed on the basis of the greater risks these groups face at the time of natural
disasters
-It also analyzes their social and economic ability to handle these risks

HUMAN POVERTY
A few people may be able to feed themselves but they do not have access to
education,health care,sanitation,job security,social equality and shelter

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROUPS VULNERABLE TO POVERTY

Social groups scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes

Economic groups in urban areas are casual labourers people into low paid jobs and daily
wage earners
Economic groups in rural areas are small and landless farmers,farm labourers and petty
farmers

POOREST OF THE POOR

-In a poor family all suffer but some suffer more than others
-Women elderly people and female infants are denied equal access to the resources
available to the family.
-Therefore women,elderly,children especially the girl child and old people are regarded as
poorest of the poor

POVERTY ESTIMATES/TRENDS IN INDIA SINCE 1993

-There has been decline in poverty ratio in India from 45 % in 1993- 94 to 37.2% in 2004-05
-There was further decline from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 22% in 2011-2012
-The number of poor people declined from 1973 to 1993.There was also a significant
reduction in the number of poor with an average annual decline of 2.2 % during 2004-05 to
2011-12
-The poverty ratios always remained higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas.
-If the present trend continues the people below poverty line may come down to less than
20% in next few years

INTERSTATE DISPARITIES IN POVERTY IN INDIA

-In India, the proportion of poor people is not the same in every 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 33.7% and
32.6% respectively
-Along with rural poverty urban poverty is also higher in Chattisgarh Orissa Madhya Pradesh
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
-There has been a significant decline and poverty in Kerala Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu Gujarat and West Bengal

REASONS FOR DECLINE IN POVERTY IN STATES LIKE-

-Punjab and Haryana -high agricultural growth rates
-Kerala -it focused on human resource development
-West Bengal because of land Reform measures
-Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu poverty reduced due to the public distribution of food grains

POVERTY LINE is the minimum level necessary to fulfill the basic needs

HOW POVERTY LINE IS ESTIMATED IN INDIA

-The poverty line is a method to measure poverty based on income or consumption levels
CALORIE /CONSUMPTION METHOD
-In India, the poverty line is determined through a minimum level of food requirement,
clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement, etc.
-These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices 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 per day in
rural areas and 2100 calories per person per day in urban areas.
-On the basis of these calculations, for the year 2011–12, the poverty line for a person was
fixed at Rs 816 per month for rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban areas.
INCOME METHOD
-A person earning less income than that fixed as poverty line is said to be poor. The poverty
line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per person for rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban areas
For e.g if a family of 5 people living in urban area earns less than Rs 5,000 (1000×5=5000)
will be considered below the poverty line
-The Poverty Line is estimated periodically (normally every five years) by conducting sample
surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

WHY PEOPLE IN RURAL AREAS REQUIRE MORE CALORIE INTAKE THAN THOSE IN
RURAL AREAS?

-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.
-It is higher in Rural areas since people in rural areas are engaged in more physical work

INSPITE OF HIGHER CALORIE INTAKE BY PEOPLE IN RURAL AREAS STILL THE

POVERTY LINE OF URBAN AREAS IS HIGHER WHY?
-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.
-The poverty line for a person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for rural areas and Rs 1000 in
urban areas
-It is higher in urban areas as these physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in
rupees.
-The cost of living in Urban areas us higher
That is why the the poverty line of Urbsn areas is higher
DO YOU THINK THAT THE PRESENT METHODOLOGY OF POVERTY ESTIMATION
APPROPRIATE?

No,it is not appropriate because -

-It takes into consideration only the minimum level of food requirement and other things
-It is about minimum subsistence level of living rather than a reasonable level of Living
-Social Scientists are of a view that poverty should be looked upon through indicators such
as a literacy level, lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, lack of access to health
care, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation
-Social exclusion and vulnerability should also be considered in assessing poverty
-The present methodology does not take these into consideration

INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE

-For making comparisons b/w different Countries of the World Bank fixes the International
Poverty Line
-It is defined by World Bank as people living on less than $1.90 per day

GLOBAL POVERTY SCENARIO

It is fallen from 36 % in 1990 to 10% in 2015
It is marked with great regional differences

-In China and South East Asian countries poverty has declined substantially -as a result of
rapid economic growth and investments in human resource development
-In South Asian countries like India Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal Bangladesh Bhutan poverty
has seen a rapid decline from 34% in 2005 to 16.2% in 2013
-In Sub-Saharan Africa poverty has declined from 51 % in 2005 to 40.2% in 2018.
-In Latin America the ratio of poverty has declined from 10 % in 2005 to 4% in 2018
-Poverty has resurfaced in some parts of former socialist countries like Russia where it was
earlier non existent

CAUSES OF POVERTY IN INDIA

There are various reasons for widespread poverty in India.

1. Colonial Rule
-Under British control, India had a low level of economic development.
- Policies of the colonial government ruined traditional handicrafts and discouraged
development of industries like textiles.
-This resulted in less job opportunities and low growth rate of income
-This low rate of growth persisted until 1980s

2. High Population
-Low rate of growth and an increase in population combined to make the growth rate of per
capita income very low.
3. Unequal Distribution of Resources
There have been huge income inequalities because of unequal distribution of land and other
resources.

4.Ineffective implementation of land reforms which aimed at redistribution of assets in rural

areas

5. Indebtedness
-Small farmers need money to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, fertiliser, pesticides etc.
-Since they hardly have any savings, they borrow money.
-When they are unable to repay they become victims of indebtedness

6 Socio-Cultural factors
In order to fulfill social obligations and observe religious ceremonies people including poor
people spend a lot of money
-For this they borrow loans at high rate of interest

ANTI-POVERTY MEASURES
Current anti-poverty strategy of the Govt is based on two planks-
1 Promotion of economic growth
2 Targeted anti-poverty programmes

Promotion of economic growth

Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world.
The higher growth rates have helped in reduction of poverty

THERE IS A STRONG LINK BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND POVERTY

REDUCTION..JUSTIFY
-Economic growth widens opportunities
-It provides resources needed to invest in human development
-This also encourages people to send their children including the girl child to schools in the
hope of getting better economic returns from investing in education
-Since the eighties, India’s economic growth has been one of the fastest in the world.
-The higher growth rates have helped in reduction of poverty

POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES (PAPs)

These are the programmes directly aimed to benefit the poor
1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005
2. Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) 1993
3. Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) 1995
4. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) 1999
5. Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) 2000
DIFFERENT POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES (PAPs)

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (also known as the
Right to Work)
– It aimed to provide 100 days of assured employment to every household
-If the Govt fails to provide employment,then it will give an unemployment allowance
-It also aimed at sustainable development to address the cause of drought, deforestation
and soil erosion.
-One-third of the proposed jobs have been reserved for women.
-The share of SC,ST, Women percentage in the scheme are 23% 17% and 53% respectively
-The average wage has increased from 65 in 2006-7 to 132 in 2013-14

2. In 1993, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) was started.

-The main aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities for educated
unemployed youth in rural areas and small towns.
-They are help in setting up small businesses and industries

3. In 1995, Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) was launched.

-The aim of the programme is to create self-employment opportunities in rural areas and
small towns.
-Target for creating 25 Lakh new jobs has been set for the program under the tenth five year
plan

4. In 1999, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched.

-The programme aims at bringing the assisted poor families above the poverty line by
organising them into self-help groups, through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.

5. In 2000, the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) was launched. Under this
programme, additional central assistance is given to states for basic services such as
primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification.

The Poverty Alleviation programs have not been effective. Give reasons
Or
The results of the poverty alleviation programmes have been mixed.Give reasons
-Lack of proper implementation
-Lack of right targeting
-Overlapping of schemes
-Benefits of these schemes have not reached the deserving poor
-Corruption

Poverty reduction is expected to make better progress in the next ten to fifteen
years.Give reasons
-Due to higher economic growth
 -Due to decline in population growth
-Increased stress on Universal free elementary education
-Increasing empowerment of women and -Increasing empowerment of economically weaker
sections of the society