Causes of Poverty in India and Anti-Poverty Measures

• Low level of economic development under the British colonial administration (Historical reason)
• This brought about fewer open positions and a low development pace of salaries, joined by a high development pace of the populace
•  The two converged to make the development pace of per capita pay exceptionally less
• Limited effects of Green revolution on some parts of India
•  The manufacturing units, both in the public and the private domain, did not provide sufficient jobs to absorb all the job seekers 
• Jobless people started living in slums in bad living conditions due to irregular income, which made poverty an urban phenomenon as well
• Huge income inequalities, primarily due to unequal land and other resource distribution
• Other socio-cultural and economic factors like spending a lot of money to satisfy social commitments and notice strict functions
• Purchasing of rural information sources like seeds, manure, pesticides and so on by the little ranchers with acquired cash
•  Incapable to pay the obligation on account of destitution, they become survivors of obligation
• So the circumstances and logical results of neediness both are a result of significant degrees of obligation

Anti-Poverty Measures

The present anti-poverty strategy built by the government is based on two planks: 

Promotion of Economic growth

• The growth rate increased from an aggregate of about 3.5 per cent a year in the 1970s to about 6 per cent during the 1980s and 1990s
• The increased  growth rates have aided remarkably in the cutting of poverty
• Hence, it is becoming clear that there is a powerful connection between economic growth and poverty reduction
• Economic growth widens options and imparts the resources needed to invest in human development

Targeted Anti-poverty Programmes

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 purposes to provide 100 days of wage employment to each household to make sure livelihood security in rural areas
• It also aimed at sustainable development to address the reason for draught, deforestation and soil erosion
• One-third of the suggested jobs have been reserved for women
• Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) aims at creating self-employment options for educated unemployed youngsters in rural areas and small towns
• Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) aimed at creating self-employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns
• Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) targets escorting the helped helpless families over the destitution line by getting sorted out them into self-improvement gatherings through a blend of bank credit or government endowment
• Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY): extra focal help is given to states for essential administrations like essential wellbeing, essential instruction, provincial sanctuary, rustic drinking water and country charge

Problems in implementation

• Lack of proper implementation and right targeting are the major reasons for the less effectiveness of these measures

• Moreover, a lot of overlapping schemes are there
• In Spite of having good intentions, the advantage of these schemes does not completely reach the deserving poor

So, the major attention in recent years is on proper monitoring of all the poverty alleviation programmes.

The Challenges Ahead

Poverty has certainly declined in India. In spite of the progress, the decrease in poverty remains India’s most fascinating challenge.

• Wide disparities in poverty between rural and urban areas and among different states

• More vulnerabilities of certain social and economic groups to poverty
• The official definition of poverty, however, captures only a specific part of what poverty actually means to people
• It is about a “least” subsistence level of living rather than a “reasonable” level of living
• Besides food, other social indicators of poverty like education levels, access to shelter, provision of healthcare facilities and above all basic human dignity of the poor in societal settings, need to be bridged

Future Outlook

In a nutshell, poverty reduction is expected to make better progress on the back of higher economic and infrastructural growth, however with this growth the definition of what constitutes poverty will also change, and our success will lie in evolving and implementing corrective measures in line with this moving target of poverty reduction.

Conclusion

Poverty is a state of living where people live on low material possession and have low income which hinders the process of economic development. Poverty can be affected and mitigated by many social, political and economic events. Basically, there are two types of poverty that exist in the world one is the unavailability of basic needs such as food, cloth and shelter and the other is relative poverty in which a person does not possess a minimum standard of living as compared to the others living in the same place at the same time. In India there are many causes of poverty, and one of the basic causes is illiteracy, So the government runs many programmes to improve education. Another cause is the poor health system, which reduces the productivity of people.