Poverty as a Challenge

Poverty -
A situation when one is not able to fulfill even the minimum basic necessities (food, clothing and shelter) required to sustain the life. When lots of people suffer from same situation it is termed as poverty. India has the largest single concentration of the poor in the world. This illustrates the seriousness of the challenge.
Poverty as seen by Social Scientists
Poverty is looked through other social indicators like illiteracy level, lack of general resistance due to malnutrition, lack to access to healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation etc.
Poverty Line
A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given “minimum level” necessary to fulfill basic needs. Poverty line may vary with time and place. While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc. are determined for subsistence. These physical quantities  are multiplied by their prices in rupees. The total equivalent amount is considered as poverty line. Daily minimum nutritional requirement for a person has been fixed at 2400 calories per person/ per day in rural areas and 2400 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 in rural areas and Rs.1000  per month in urban areas.
For making comparisons between developing countries, many international organisations like the World Bank use a uniform standard for the poverty line: minimum availability of the equivalent of $ 1 per person per day.
Is present methodology of poverty estimation appropriate?
No, the present methodology of poverty estimation is not appropriate.  It is about a ‘minimum’ subsistence level of living rather than a ‘reasonable’ level of living. Many scholars advocate that we must broaden the concept into human poverty.
Poverty Estimates
There is substantial decline in poverty ratios in India from about 55 per cent in 1973 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12. The proportion of people below poverty line further came down to about 26 per cent in 2000. The number of poor declined from 407.1 million in 2004-05 to 269.3 million in 2011-12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points during 2004-05 to 2011-12.
Vulnerable Groups
(i) Most vulnerable to poverty are scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(ii) Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural agricultural labour households and the urban casual labour households.
(iii) Some recent studies have shown that except for the scheduled tribe households, all the other three groups i.e. scheduled castes, rural agricultural labourers and the urban casual labour households have seen a decline in poverty in the 1990s.
(iv) Women, elderly people and female infants are systematically denied equal access to resources available to the family. Therefore women, children (especially the girl child) and old people are poorest of the poor.
Inter State Disparities
(i) States with poverty ratio more than the national average: Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh are the most poverty ridden states of India. The poverty ration in these states is much higher than the national average. Bihar and Orissa are the poorest states with poverty ratio of 33.7 and 37.6 respectively.
(ii) States with poverty ratio less than the national average: There has been a significant decline in poverty ratio in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal.
(iii) States with low poverty ratio: Punjab, Haryana, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir
Global Poverty Scenario
(i) Poverty declined substantially in China and South-east Asian countries as a result of rapid economic growth and massive investments in human resource development.
(ii) In the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has not been as rapid.
(iii) In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty in fact rose from 51 per cent in 1981 to 47 per cent in 2008.
(iv) In Latin America, the ratio of poverty remained the same.
Causes of Poverty
(i) British Rule
(ii) Rural Economy
(iii) Heavy Pressure of Population
(iv) Lack of Proper Industrialisation
(v) Social factors
Anti Poverty Measures
(a) 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 significantly in the reduction of poverty. It is becoming clear that there is a strong link between economic growth and poverty reduction. Economic growth widens opportunities and provides the 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.
(b)Targeted Anti - Poverty Programmes :
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) 2005 : Septempber 2005, 100 days assured employment, 200 districts to be extended to 600 districts, if not provided employment within 15 days will be entitled to unemployment allowance, often termed as 'Right to Work'.
National Food for Work Programme (NFWP) 2004 : introduced in 150 most backward districts, rural poor who are in need of wage employment, and to do manual unskilled work. :
Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) : self employment opportunity to educated unemployed youth in Rural areas & small towns
Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) : to create self employment opportunities in rural areasand small towns
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) : to bring the poor families above poverty line by organising them into self help group
Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY) : central assistance for basic services such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water and rural electrification
Antyodaya Anna Yozana (AAY) :
Assessment of poverty –alleviation programmes:
On the positive side, the incidence of poverty has declined in India.  Whereas in 1973, about 55 percent of India’s population lived below poverty. This ratio has currently come down to 26 percent.
On the negative side, poverty reduction remains India’s most compelling challenge. About one-fourth of India’s total population, i.e., about 260 million persons, live below the line of poverty. This shows that the poverty alleviation programmes have not lived up to the expectations. The major weaknesses of these programmes have been as follows :
(i) Lack of proper implementation.
(ii) Lack of right targeting
(iii) Overlapping of schemes.
(iv) Non-delivery of benefits to the targeted groups.
The Challenges Ahead
(i) Despite the progress, poverty reduction remains India’s most compelling challenge.
(ii) The official defination of poverty captures only a limited part of what poverty really means to people. It is about a “minimum” subsistence level of living rather than a “reasonable” level of living. We must broaden the concept into human poverty.
(iii) With development the defination of what constitutes poverty also changes. Eradication of poverty is always a moving target. Hopefully we will be able to provide the minimum “necessary” in terms of only income to all people by the end of the next decade.