Q. “Poverty is a matter of deprivation from basic needs of human life.” Explain it and suggest measures to reduce it? (47 BPSC/2007)

Q. “Poverty is a matter of deprivation from basic needs of human life.” Explain it and suggest measures to reduce it? (47 BPSC/2007)

Ans:
According to the World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity.Poverty is not only a challenge for India, as more than one-fifth of the world’s poor live in India alone; but also for the world, where about 300 million people are not able to meet their basic needs.

Poverty is a matter of deprivation from basic needs of human life:

• Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, sanitations, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them.
• The deprivation from basic needs of human life includes-
  • lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society.
  • It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family,
  • not having a school or clinic to go to,
  • not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit.
  • It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities.
  • It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.
  • It means lack of liberty and freedom to make the choices and realize it.
  • The lack of ability to participate and voice in what happens in community.
  • lack of civil and political freedoms,
  • Lack of access to technology, good environment etc.
• Two scholars, Shaheen Rafi Khan and Damian Killen, put the conditions of the poor in a nutshell:
  • Poverty is hunger. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job. Poverty is fear for the future, having food once in a day. Poverty is losing a child to illness, brought about by unclear water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.

The measures to reduce poverty:To know what helps to reduce poverty, what works and what does not, what changes over time, poverty has to be defined, measured and studied — and even experienced. As poverty has many dimensions, it has to be looked at through a variety of indicators — levels of income and consumption, social indicators, and indicators of vulnerability to risks and of socio-political access.

• First, the government needs to be able to identify who the poor are. For this there is need to develop a scale to measure poverty, and the factors that make up the criteria for this measurement or mechanism need to be carefully chosen.
• Finding the viable and sustainable strategies to address the causes of poverty and design schemes to help the poor out of their situation.
  • The aim of poverty alleviation schemes should be to improve human lives by expanding the range of things that a person could be and could do, such as to be healthy and well-nourished, to be knowledgeable and participate in the life of a community.
• Post independence,  the government’s approach to poverty reduction was of three dimensions:
  • The first one is growth-oriented approach, It is based on the expectation that the effects of economic growth — rapid increase in gross domestic product and per capita income — would spread to all sections of society and will trickle down to the poor sections also.
    • This was the major focus of planning in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was felt that rapid industrial development and transformation of agriculture through green revolution in select regions would benefit the underdeveloped regions and the more backward sections of the community.
  • The second approach was to specifically address the poor:
    • While looking for alternatives to specifically address the poor, policy makers started thinking that incomes and employment for the poor could be raised through the creation of additional assets and by means of work generation. This could be achieved through specific poverty alleviation programmes.
    • This second approach has been initiated from the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) and progressively enlarged since then. One of the noted programmes initiated in the 1970s was Food for Work.
    • Expanding self-employment programmes and wage employment programmes are being considered as the major ways of addressing poverty. e.g MGNREGA, Prime Minister’s Empolyment Generation Programme (PMEGP) etc.
    • Earlier, under self-employment programmes, financial assistance was given to families or individuals. Since, the 1990s, this approach has been changed. Now those who wish to benefit from these programmes are encouraged to form self-help groups.
      • Initially they are encouraged to save some money and lend among themselves as small loans. Later, through banks, the government provides partial financial assistance to SHGs which then decide whom the loan is to be given to for selfemployment activities.
  • The third approach to addressing poverty is to provide minimum basic amenities to the people:
    • India was among the pioneers in the world to envisage that through public expenditure on social consumption needs — provision of food grains at subsidised rates, education, health, water supply and sanitation—people’s living standard could be improved.
    • Programmes under this approach are expected to supplement the consumption of the poor, create employment opportunities and bring about improvements in health and education.
    • As stated in the Fifth Five Year Plan, “even with expanded employment opportunities, the poor will not be able to buy for themselves all the essential goods and services. They have to be supplemented up to at least certain minimum standards by social consumption and investment in the form of essential food grains, education, health, nutrition, drinking water, housing, communications and electricity.”
    • Three major programmes that aim at improving the food and nutritional status of the poor are Public Distribution System, Integrated Child Development Scheme and Midday Meal Scheme.
  • The government also has a variety of other social security programmes to help a few specific groups. e.g.
    • National Social Assistance Programme:
      • elderly people who do not have anyone to take care of them are given pension to sustain themselves.
      • Poor women who are destitute and widows are also covered under this scheme.
    • From 2014, a scheme called Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is available in which people in India are encouraged to open bank accounts. Besides promoting savings habit, this scheme intends to transfer all the benefits of government schemes and subsidies to account holders directly.
      • Each bank account holder is also entitled to Rs. 1 lakh accident insurance and Rs. 30,000 life insurance cover.
    • Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is a scheme of the Government of India to provide free access to healthcare for 40% of people in the country.
• More than three-fourth of the poor in India still reside in villages =>  need is to generate more employement in rural areas.
• Check on corruption and efficient utilization of funds. Adequate training of officials and make them sensitive towards the people’s needs.
• Utilizing capacities of NGOs and civil societies to supplement the initiatives of the government.
• Checking Population growth. 
• Address the social exclusion based on caste, gender etc.
• Increasing farms productivity and strengthen the marketability of the farm produce.

It also reveals that high growth alone is not sufficient to reduce poverty. Without the active participation of the poor, successful implementation of any programme is not possible.Poverty can effectively be eradicated only when the poor start contributing to growth by their active involvement in the growth process. This is possible through a process of social mobilisation, encouraging poor people to participate and get them empowered.Moreover, it is necessary to identify poverty stricken areas and provide infrastructure such as schools, roads, power, telecom, IT services, training institutions etc.