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Describing Poverty 

Humanity is still a long way from achieving what has eluded it for thousands of years: a world free of poverty and hunger. However, in a large portion of the developing world, the last thirty years have brought us closer to achieving this goal.

Millions of people’s lives have been transformed at a rate truly unprecedented, and to an extent which seemed unimaginable only a generation ago. Even today, however, there is no room for stagnation, as nearly 1.2 billion people—a fifth of the world’s population—live in abject poverty.

What is Poverty? 

Poverty is defined as a person’s inability to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, health, and education. Poverty Is Divided Into Two Types- Poverty is divided into two types. Absolute and relative poverty

  • Absolute Poverty is defined as a total lack of resources to meet basic personal needs such as food, clothing, and shelter
  • Relative Poverty  is the condition in which people do not have the bare minimum of income required to maintain their society’s average standard of living. Relative poverty is thought to be the most straightforward way to assess a country’s level of poverty
  • Deprivation of quality education and inability to acquire skills that fetch better incomes
  • Denial of healthcare services
  • It is usually caused because of the difference in the social, economic, and political aspects, unemployment, indebtedness, and unequal distribution of wealth
  • Poverty is also clarified by broad, economy-wide issues, such as low capital arrangement, lack of infrastructure, absence of interest, the strain of populace, absence of social and government assistance nets
  • Impact of British rule:
  • There was considerable de-industrialization in India under the British
  • India experienced severe famines due to the export of food grains
  • British ideas included strongly raising provincial assessments that empowered traders and moneylenders to turn out to be huge landowners. Due to this, land equations in the rural regions were changed
  • Post-independence, the government undertook land redistribution, but many new landholders either did not have the necessary farm capital or landholdings were too small to be viable
  • Additionally, the majority of the Indian states neglected to carry out land rearrangement arrangements
  • With rapid population growth, the per-head availability of cultivable land has declined, leading to fragmentation and economically insignificant landholdings
  • The situation of debt trap to natural calamities/drought etc. due to dependence of agriculture on rains
  • Vulnerable sections like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were unable to participate in the new economic opportunities due to a lack of necessary skills and knowledge
  • Urban poor are very vulnerable due to lack of social security when employed as casual laborers
  • Poverty is additionally firmly identified with the nature of work
  • Joblessness or underemployment and the relaxed and discontinuous nature of work in both rural and metropolitan regions that urges obligation, thus, supports poverty
  • An immediate rise in the cost of food grains and other fundamental merchandise further increases the difficulty and hardship of lower pay gatherings
  • The inconsistent dispersion of pay and resources has additionally prompted the ingenuity of neediness in India
  • The disparity between the rich and the poor in India has widened with time
  • Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem for India that should be tended to urgently

Policies and Programs towards Poverty Alleviation:

The government’s approach to poverty reduction was multi-faceted: 

Growth-oriented approach:

  • This was the major focus of planning in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was based on the expectation of the effects of economic growth 
  • The rapid increase in economic growth (measured in GDP) and per capita income would spread to all sections of society and trickle down to the poor sections
  • Growth from the Green Revolution was expected to spread its impact to even the underdeveloped and poorer sections of the community
  • However, India experienced a major drawback in the growth-oriented approach
  • Growth in per capita income and agriculture has not been so impressive
  • The disparity between the poor and the rich has increased
  • The benefits of economic growth have not reached the poor

Specific Poverty alleviation Programs Approach:

  • This methodology started from the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) and continuously broadened from that point forward
  • Most poverty alleviation programs are carried out depending on the viewpoint of the Five-Year Plans
  • Extending independent work projects and paying business programs are considered significant methods of tending to destitution. Examples include: 
  • The Food for Work program was initiated in the 1970s
  • Rural Employment Generation Program planned to create self-employment opportunities in more developed areas
  • Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, financial aid for educated unemployed from low-income families to set up enterprises
  • Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana for self and wage employment in urban areas
  • These last three programs have now become the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program(PMEGP)
  • People who wish to benefit from these programs are told to form Self-Help Groups
  • National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and renamed as Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Yojana, and National Urban Livelihoods Mission are providing aid to the SHG’s
  • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA): Under this Act, all those among the poor who are ready to work at the minimum wage can report for work in areas where this program is implemented

    In conclusion:- 

    Poverty, on the other hand, is declining in India. It has approximately 84 million people living in extreme poverty, accounting for 6% of its total population as of May 2021. The prevalence of multidimensional poverty has decreased significantly by 2020, from 54.7 percent in 2005 to 27.9 percent in 2015–2016.