Poverty in India
Poverty In India Is Widespread With The Nation Estimated To Have A Third Of The World's Poor. According To The Criterion Used By The Planning Commission Of India 27.5% Of The Population Was Living Below The Poverty Line In 2004–2005, Down From 51.3% In 1977–1978, And 36% In 1993-1994. While Poverty Rates In India Are High, They Are Not On A Par With What Neighboring Pakistan And Bangladesh Experience. Economic Growth Has In The Past Been Dampened By The Economic Policies Adopted After Its Independence.
Even More Than 50 Years after Independence from Almost Two Centuries of British Rule, Large Scale Poverty Remains The Most shameful Blot On The Face Of India. India Still Has the World’s Largest Number of Poor People in a Single Country of it’s nearly Billion Inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 Million Are below the Poverty Line, 75 Per Cent Of Them In The Rural Areas. Poverty Is One Of The Main Issues, Attracting The Attention Of Sociologists And Economists. Poverty In India Can Be Defined As A Situation When A Certain Section Of People Are Unable To Fulfill Their Basic Needs. It Indicates A Condition In Which A Person Fails To Maintain A Living Standard Adequate For A Comfortable Lifestyle. Though India Boasts Of A High Economic Growth, It Is Shameful That There Is Still Large Scale Poverty In India. Even After High Growth Rate Why Can’t India Achieve The Stage Of Poverty Free Country? It is actually matter of just 5 years to eliminate poverty and increase national produce.
Poverty Estimates
The Proportion Of India's Population Below The Poverty Line Has Fluctuated Widely In The Past, But The Overall Trend Has Been Downward. In 1951, 47% Of India's Rural Population Was Below The Poverty Line. The Proportion Went Up To 64% In 1954-55; It Came Down To 45% In 1960-61 But In 1977-78, It Went Up Again To 51%. Income Poverty Declined Significantly Between The Mid-1970s And The End Of The 1980s. The Decline Was More Pronounced Between 1977-78 And 1986-87, With Rural Income Poverty Declining From 51% To 39%. It Went Down Further To 34% By 1989-90. Urban Income Poverty Went Down From 41% In 1977-78 To 34% In 1986-87, And Further To 33% In 1989-90. The Post-Economic Reform Period Evidenced Both Setbacks And Progress. Rural Income Poverty Increased From 34% In 1989-90 To 43% In 1992 And Then Fell To 37% In 1993-94. Urban Income Poverty Went Up From 33.4% In 1989-90 To 33.7% In 1992 And Declined To 32% In 1993-94 Also, Nss Data For 1994-95 To 1998 Show Little Or No Poverty Reduction, So That The Evidence Till 1999-2000 Was That Poverty, Particularly Rural Poverty, Had Increased Post-Reform. However, The Official Estimate Of Poverty For 1999-2000 Was 26.1%, A Dramatic Decline That Led To Much Debate And Analysis. This Was Because For This Year The Nss Had Adopted A New Survey Methodology That Led To Both Higher Estimated Mean Consumption And Also An Estimated Distribution That Was More Equal Than In Past Nss Surveys. The Latest Nss Survey For 2004-05 Is Fully Comparable To The Surveys Before 1999-2000 And Shows Poverty At 28.3% In Rural Areas, 25.7% In Urban Areas And 27.5% For The Country As A Whole, Using Uniform Recall Period Consumption. The Corresponding Figures Using The Mixed Recall Period Consumption Method Was 21.8%, 21.7% And 21.8% Respectively. Thus, Poverty Has Declined After 1998, Although It Is Still Being Debated Whether There Was Any Significant Poverty Reduction Between 1989-90 And 1999-00. The Latest Nss Survey Was So Designed As To Also Give Estimates Roughly, But Not Fully, Comparable To The 1999-2000 Survey. These Suggest That Most Of The Decline In Rural Poverty Over The Period During 1993-94 To 2004-05 Actually Occurred After 1999-2000.
The Data Show Significantly Decline In Poverty Ratio Of The Country, Still We Hear Promises Of Poverty Alleviation From Every Political Leader During Election. Poverty Has Become Good Means Of Making An Effective And Demanding Voter Speech To Be Delivered By Each Nominee.
Causes of Poverty in India
Lack Of Investment For The Poor: Over The Past 60years, India Decided To Focus On Creating World-Class Educational Institutions For The Elite, Whilst Neglecting Basic Literacy For The Majority. This Has Denied The Illiterate Population - 33% Of India - Even The Possibility Of Escaping Poverty.
Caste System: A Disproportionally Large Share Of Poor Are Lower Caste Hindus. According To S. M. Michael, Dalits Constitute The Bulk Of Poor And Unemployed. Society Has Developed Considerably, Practically Casteism Does Not Exists in Major Parts of the Nation except on Papers and Speeches of Various political Parties. Nation, However, Have Noted The Steady Rise And Empowerment Of The Dalits Through Social Reforms And The Implementation Of Reservations In Employment And Benefits.
India's Economic Policies : In 1947, the Average Annual Income in India Was $439, By 1999, the Numbers Were $1,818; $3,259; $13,317; and $15,720. In Other Words, The Average Income In India Was Not Much Different From South Korea In 1947, But South Korea Became A Developed Country By 2000s. At The Same Time, India Was Left As One Of The World's Poorest Countries.
| India Had Started Out In The 1950s With: | But We Ended The 1980s With: |
High Growth Rates | Low Growth Rates |
Openness to Trade and Investment | Closure to Trade and Investment |
| A Promotional State | A License-Obsessed, Restrictive State Inability to Sustain Social Expenditures |
Social Expenditure Awareness | Macro Instability, |
Macro Stability | Poverty Has Decreased Significantly Since Reforms Were Started In The 1980s. |
Also:
- Over-Reliance on Agriculture. There Is A Surplus Of Labour In Agriculture. Farmers Are A Large Vote Bank And Use Their Votes To Resist Reallocation Of Land For Higher-Income Industrial Projects. While Services And Industry Have Grown At Double Digit Figures, Agriculture Growth Rate Has Dropped From 4.8% To 2%. About 60% Of The Population Depends On Agriculture Whereas The Contribution Of Agriculture To The GDP Is About 18%.
- High Population Growth Rate, Although Demographers Generally Agree That This Is A Symptom Rather Than Cause Of Poverty.
Neo Liberal Policies And Their Effects
Other Points Of View Hold That The Economic Reforms Initiated In The Early 1990s Responsible For The Collapse Of Rural Economies And The Agrarian Crisis Currently Underway. As Journalist And The Rural Affairs Editor For The Hindu, P Sainath Describes In His Reports On The Rural Economy In India, The Level Of Inequality Has Risen To Extraordinary Levels, When At The Same Time, Hunger In India Has Reached Its Highest Level In Decades. He Also Points Out That Rural Economies Across India Have Collapsed, Or On The Verge Of Collapse Due To The Neo-Liberal Policies Of The Government Of India Since The 1990s. The Human Cost Of The "Liberalisation" Has Been Very High. The Huge Wave Of Farm Suicides In Indian Rural Population From 1997 To 2007 Totaled Close To 200,000, According To Official Statistics. As Professor Utsa Patnaik, India’s Top Economist On Agriculture, Has Pointed Out, The Average Poor Family In 2007 Has About 100 Kg Less Food Per Year Than It Did In 1997.
Government Policies Encouraging Farmers To Switch To Cash Crops, In Place Of Traditional Food Crops, Has Resulted In An Extraordinary Increase In Farm Input Costs, While Market Forces Determined The Price Of The Cash Crop.
As Of 2006, The Government Spends Less Than 0.2% Of GDP On Agriculture And Less Than 3% Of GDP On Education. However, Some Government Schemes Such As The Mid-Day Meal Scheme, And The Nrega Have Been Partially Successful In Providing A Lifeline For The Rural Economy And Curbing The Further Rise Of Poverty.
Can A Land Be Worthless? At least As Per Ricardian Theory It Cannot, It Can Be High Paying Or Less. It Can Produce Grain Or Vegetable Or Cash Crop Or Taleast Medicinal Plants Or Brick. So Instead Of Concentration In Particular Areas Why The Population Can’t Be Scattered To Interior Areas And Even More Outside. As Certain Policies Of China Are Appreciable And Inspiring. Unemployed Youths Can Be Taken To Barren Lands, To Plough To Produce, At least They Will Not Feed Themselves On Berojgari Bhatta, They Will Get It As Stypened And Nation Will Get High GDP. This Way The Young Unemployed Energy Can Be Diverted From Crime, Mischief’s And Election Campaign To Productivity.
Efforts To Alleviate Poverty
Since The Early 1950s, Government Has Initiated, Sustained, And Refined Various Planning Schemes To Help The Poor Attain Self Sufficiency In Food Production. Probably The Most Important Initiative Has Been The Supply Of Basic Commodities, Particularly Food At Controlled Prices, Available Throughout The Country As Poor Spend About 80 Percent Of Their Income On Food. Government has made major efforts to uplift Dalits in the nation. Lot of funds is issued in this regard along with the various reservation policies. Still Large No Of Dalits Remain Illiterate, But Not Poor. As They Are So Severely Bound To Their Customs And Don’t Want To Leave It. The Way To Their Development Can Be Changed Rather Then Reservations. It Is Now More Or Less Becoming A Political Issue. Each Party Wants To Keep The Reservation And Caste Issue Alive As It Is Forms A Major Vote Bank. Less Concerned About The Actual Rise And Amending The 50 Years Old Policy As Per The Present Era, In spite Being Concerned About Vote Banks. Crores Of Rupees Are Invested Through Ngo’s, Fact Is That More Then 50% Of Ngo’s Does Not Actually Exist. This Money Can Be Invested To By Providing Them Self Employed And Self Reliance Economy developing Their Living Place For Tourism Or Rural And Tribal Art. That Will Add Upon To Incredible India.
Large Amount Of Lands Are Lying Barron Outside Cities But Nether Are Ploughed Nor Factories Like Tata Motors Are Installed There. If The Land Is Not Good For Agriculture, As Some Costal Areas Or Hot And Dry Areas, Industries Should Be Established Their In spite Of Struggling With Farmers And Their Fertile Land. India Needs Equality Of Income Not Only Industalisation. Why Can’t Agriculture Be Promoted As A Noble And High Income Generating Jobs, So That More Entrepreneurs Promote To Invest Their. Why Can’t The News Papers Be Filled With Motivational Thoughts Of Promoting Agriculture, Plantation, Tourism, Small Scale Industries Etc. In spite Of Vote Requests And Other Free Schemes Of Marrying A Poor Girl. Our Aim Is Nor Marring A Girl But Making A Economically Sound And Literate Family. In spite of Ladli Laxmi Yojna, People need opportunities to survive and earn of their own
But These Processes Can Be Helpful Only If The Policies Go To Those People For Whom It Is Meant. The Clash Between The Central Government And The State Government Often Results In The Lack Of Implementation Of These Policies. So It Is Very Important That The Governments Do Not Play Power Politics When It Comes To A Serious Issue Such As Poverty.
Outlook For Poverty Alleviation
Eradication Of Poverty In India Is Generally Only Considered To Be A Long-Term Goal. Poverty Alleviation Is Expected To Make Better Progress In The Next 50 Years Than In The Past, As A Trickle-Down Effect Of The Growing Middle Class. Increasing Stress On Education, Reservation Of Seats In Government Jobs And The Increasing Empowerment Of Women And The Economically Weaker Sections Of Society, Are Also Expected To Contribute To The Alleviation Of Poverty. It Is Incorrect To Say That All Poverty Reduction Programmes Have Failed. The Growth Of The Middle Class (Which Was Virtually Non-Existent When India Became A Free Nation In August 1947) Indicates That Economic Prosperity Has Indeed Been Very Impressive In India, But The Distribution Of Wealth Is Not At All Even.
After The Liberalization Process And Moving Away From The Socialist Model, India Is Adding 60-70 Million People To Its Middle Class Every Year. Analysts Such As The Founder Of "Forecasting International", Marvin J. Cetron Writes That An Estimated 390 Million Indians Now Belong To The Middle Class; One-Third Of Them Have Emerged From Poverty In The Last Ten Years. At The Current Rate Of Growth, A Majority Of Indians Will Be Middle-Class By 2025. Literacy Rates Have Risen From 52 Percent To 65 Percent During The Initial Decade Of Liberalization (1991-2001).
It Is True That India Has Attained High Limits Through Various Schemes Launched By Government, But To Make The Country Fully And Equally Developed Without Any Regional Disparities, Policies Need To Change. Government Has To Rise Above The Vote Bank Interest And Peep In To Nations Interest, In The Changing Era. Eradication Of Poverty Can Only Be A Very Long-Term Goal In India.
Controversy Over Extent Of Poverty Reduction
While Total Overall Poverty In India Has Declined, The Extent Of Poverty Reduction Is Often Debated. While There Is A Consensus That There Has Not Been Increase In Poverty Between 1993-94 And 2004-05, The Picture Is Not So Clear If One Considers Other Non-Pecuniary Dimensions (Such As Health, Education, Crime And Access To Infrastructure). With The Rapid Economic Growth That India Is Experiencing, It Is Likely That A Significant Fraction Of The Rural Population Will Continue To Migrate Toward Cities, Making The Issue Of Urban Poverty More Significant In The Long Run .
It Would Be Incorrect To Say That All Poverty Reduction Programmes Have Failed. The Growth Of The Middle Class (Which Was Virtually Non-Existent When India Became A Free Nation In August 1947) Indicates That Economic Prosperity Has Indeed Been Very Impressive In India, But The Distribution Of Wealth Has Been Very Uneven. Also India's Slums Represent Complex Political And Social Issues.
When A Rickshaw Puller Or A Maid Servant And A Peon, A Retail Vegetable Seller, The Seasonal Laborers Can Effort To Have A Mobile Phone , Color Television At Home, And A Weekend Outings By Visit Theaters And Having Dinner Outside With Family. This Represents Contradictions In Our Society. As They Are Non Tax Payee Very Poor People. The middle class affords to travel in AC boogies of superfast trains rather then General Compartment or 2nd Sleeper.
"Its Not Just Poor People Who Live In Slums, its Remarkable How Wide The Discrepancy In Wealth Is." Exact Situation Has To Be Analyzed By Governmental Machineries. The Traditional Performa Of Surveys Has To Be Changed. To Know The Actual Thirst Area, Policies Need To Be Changed.
The Indian Society, And Particularly Its Youth, Is Much More Open To Changes Than Its Political And Bureaucratic Class, And Would Welcome A Third Wave Of Reforms That Would Help The Poor To Benefit From Economic Progress. This Fascinating Work Weaves Together A Set Of Seemingly Diverse Events Into An Intricate Tapestry Capturing The Essence And Purpose Of Emerging India. It Is Also An Inspiration To People In "Challenged" Economies That The Power Of Honest Entrepreneurship Can Bring About A Greater Transformation Than The Best Intentions Of Any Government. It is now no more Poverty Alleviation that is required it should be Development and Growth drive.
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